Bambino
by Emisck
Summary: Harry finds the perfect place to hide but unfortunately, with the help of a little misunderstanding, Reborn the hitman shows up. sorry I'm not good at writing. First real attempt at multy chapter and only 3rd attempt at story writing. RebornxHarry GokuderaxTsuna HibarixNeville ?
1. Bambino

Hello whoever may be reading this. I have practically no writing/story skills at all. XD I'm trying to improve the flow of my essays so... I thought I might as well do some fun writing as well and …. this thing happened. w

Characters are OOC purely because I don't have the time nor have I really ever watched/read Hitman Reborn. It was just random what I came up with. I hopefully will have time to add more to this soon, college permitting.

Please be kind? ;w; I don't have beta and I don't have the time to go and get one (my number one fault is placing ",").

Anyways, I am Emisck and I hope you have fun reading this. It's filled with love and silly string! /w/;

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

**Bambino**

A year after the war Harry really felt like his life had truly begun. Free from Hogwarts and away from the wizarding community with their expectations, Harry simply felt at piece. The position he took up on the grass was relaxed and practically boneless despite his long knobby legs. Warm light from the sun overhead mixed perfectly with the light breeze drifting around him and practically right though his body.

There was no place he would have ever liked to be than right there at that very moment. Japan was like his dream come true! All the seasons stood out vividly against a lovely backdrop and made him feel alive as he watched the world change dramatically from month to month. Springtime was his favorite season of the year by far. The air temperature was just right and the shade brought cool earth and soft leaves to lie on (plus all the flowers that bloomed). Having no real allergies Harry didn't worry about sneezing on everything or other reactions to pollen. He had been building up his immune system since Aunt Petunia's crusade in the back yard that, naturally, he had to tend to all the time. But that was then and this was now and wow did it feel nice out here… that was until just now.

'_OUCH_!' Harry cried silently in his head.

Green eyes began to water in pain as a small fist yanked his large pointed black ear a second time, obviously trying to garner a reaction. God it always smarted when the little ones got a hold of him but he took it all in stride only because he had too. Oh, did he forget to mention? He wasn't exactly human at the moment. Nara Park in Japan was famous for the sacred deer herd that milled about the place. As tourists, both Japanese and from off the island, came to see the ridiculously large herd of dear, the animals got completely desensitized towards humans. So, since his animagus form was a medium sized black fallow deer with dull hazel eyes he naturally went there. Granted Harry was bigger and had a different color then the rest of the herd but the Japanese population simple accepted him as a fantastic anomaly. Currently the *park manager had three deer specialist trying to study him. Harry snorted out load.

Shaking his head to gat back his ear Harry turned his head to the little toddler who was dressed in a customary yellow hat and blue shirt with white shorts. The uniform for his school, Harry gather. There were about a dozen other brats clustered together around a slightly plump women with glasses some ways off. The little boy before him had black hair and narrowed black eyes that watched him rather intently as if he was going to do something "magical".

Harry simply blinked and entered a staring contest with the kid waiting for the teacher to realize a sacred deer was being bothering and call the kid back. Technically, visitors were not to touch the deer so once the chaperone slash teacher realized what was happening the kid was bound to be grabbed and taken away. Unfortunately it looked like that might take a while since the teacher was currently consoling a crying three year old with a scraped knee and large fat tears rolling down the little girl's face. Harry didn't look away from the contest but saw other people milling about out of the corner of his eyes.

Three different schools with varying ages were visiting today. In the four months that Harry had stayed in Nara Park about twelve dozen schools had come and gone. At first Harry had kept his distance instead of following the screaming kids around like the rest of the deer but after a while he got lonely. Now the young wizard just played the slightly older, oddly colored deer that sat and let people pet him in secret. Harry got his quota of human contact and the humans in question got to pet the new addition to the Nara Park grounds. Seemed to be a rather nice agreement as far as he was concerned.

Still staring at the kid, who had yet to even blink, Harry mused on what drove him to hide in Japan. After Voldemort's disposal Harry collapsed in exhaustion due to the last dual and the removal of the horcrux from his soul. With his magical core's drastic depletion he went into a slight coma and only came out after a month of sleeping. During what would later be called his "nap time" by friends, his core tried to stabilize itself and regain power. However, at the same time it opened up channels in his nerves in order to heal the magical damage to his body, letting small amounts of power leech into his muscles and skin. The medi-witches and wizards who were overseeing his recovery were surprised. Usually extensive training was required to open magical channels in just a wizard's hand, thus allowing wandless magic to occur. However, Harry's magic was opening the channels without any training and without any resistance from his body.

While this was good for Harry's body it wasn't good for his magical core. Since his core was trying to stabilize and exert healing power to his body at the same time, the large pocket that held his magic shrank, eating itself. Biologically, the depletion of the pocket made sense to both his core and his body. Magic was now running through him instead of being held separate. So there really wasn't any need for such a large reserve chamber. There was a problem with this though. The power he could once call upon had shriveled. In most areas of magic he was below even the most average of witches and wizards, but in things like Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration and Charms he seemed to be doing better then ever before as if he still had Voldemort's horcrux inside him. The new ability to "eat" magic was new and frightening as well but Hermione guessed it was because his body now processed magic like an enzyme, or sugar. The fact still remained though, his body and magic hand merged.

Concealment charms and other feature altering spells and potions were unable to function due to the unification of the physical and magical aspects of himself. With Harry's core and physical forms meshed together any magic done to him would have either harmed him, been eaten by his body, rebound away, or harmed the caster. So a "keyed down" life as an auror would have been disastrous. Unable to wear any magical disguise would have put him and his teammates in danger and he was way to famous to go without a disguise. There was talk of using muggle means of changing his looks but what if it rained? What if someone touched his face or grabbed his hair and took off the wig? Or better yet what about his voice? It was hopeless as far as Harry could see, he didn't even WANT to remember the long discussion he had had with Hermione over blond hair dye.

Harry had taken the loss of a possible future job hard; the life he wanted after defeating Voldemort was taken away almost indefinitely. It didn't matter that he could do wandless magic or that he already possessed an animagus form, without being able to change his identity Harry would most likely be pushed into a diplomatic or desk job (both of which he did not want to be stuck with). After further thought Harry realized that what he really wanted instead was a quiet life, one where he could feel secure and relaxed. Both were a luxury he never had as a child. So he researched the art of disappearing from the magical world with his friends' help. Unsurprisingly Hermione's help had been the most helpful. He had wanted someplace were there was rich history and a culture different from British society, someplace were he could watch the world go by, someplace he could still get into the magical world if anything happened, someplace that had enough people where if anyone came looking for him that person would have an extraordinary time of it. He found Japan that way and fell in love with the country.

So, what better place to hide than in plain sight and in the muggle world as an animal? Didn't take much thought to come up with. Harry didn't have to use his wand for much since he could do everything the muggle way, and considering his odd appearance in the herd tons of people took his picture and displayed them. Nobody would think to investigate a deer in Nara Park as Harry Potter.

Back to the kid though, Harry finally saw him blink. God this kid was creepy and somehow reminded him of a Dementor. Harry shuddered, those eyes were almost lifeless. Ah… the kid was drooling!

Ok that was it. Harry shuddered. The soulless child was no longer entertaining AT ALL. He was going to go somewhere else and relax, maybe think about what he was going to eat that day because he most definitely was not going for the grass or those feed pellets. Getting up was still awkward for Harry and embarrassing. First his hindquarters had to be lifted and then his front legs. For the three seconds that his butt was in the air he felt exposed and embarrassed beyond belief. If he could blush his face would be bright red but as it were his face was covered with black and cream fur.

Straightened out at last Harry took a quick look around. One of the schools had left leaving the toddles and what looked like a 13 to 17 year old group. The older kids were clothed in a tan shirt with a white under shirt. A red crest was sown onto their right breast piece and the boys had black pants while the girls had black skirts. They had stationed themselves in a lose blob formation with groups of giggling girls on the inside.

'Well they are older and I can probably get one of the girls to pet my ear. Bloody kid gripped it so hard it still smarts.' Harry twitched his abused ear.

Walking in the group's direction Harry aimed for a small brown haired boy with gravity defying hair reminiscent of his own messy human fluff. The boy was the right height to look at in the eyes and reach the soreness and if he didn't there were always the others. A pair of flustered girls hid behind him in an attempt to avoid a large male Sitka deer. The boy had wide eyes and was fidgeting as the deer continued to press at them.

'_Maybe I'll joust with the deer first and make him shove off._'

It might be odd to act that much like a deer but at times it made life funnier. As a deer, Harry could try new things and get away with stuff that his real form probably could not. In the back of his mind Harry could hear Ron's voice encouraging him to go bite at the girl's skirts and make them shriek. Harry gave a little dear smile* and began to move faster, watching as one of the girls who had black hair pulled into a pony-tail and was the tallest of the group, used her bag to shield her smaller, short, light caramel brown haired friends. The particular deer the group of three was contesting with Harry had nicknamed Bruno. Bruno thought he was suave and debonair, always approaching both female deer and high school girls with a puffed out chest. Why he did it, Harry didn't know but it was entertaining to watch.

As Harry neared the group he raised his head and squared his shoulders trying to look like his proud patronus. Ears straight up and pointed forwards, head held high, back bowed and steps light. The show always garnered him attention. Just as he got to about six feet from the group a laud bang and bright flash of light lit up. The two girls screamed and the boy shrieked out a "Hiiiiiiiiii!" sound. Bruno reared up and jumped away in surprise eyes wide and tail pointed straight up, running with a few other deer that had gotten spooked as well. Harry, still with DADA instincts, froze and stood still looking around for the threat.

'_What the heck was that!?_'

Slightly dazzled and disheveled from the blast the brown haired boy Harry had been walking towards took an unsteady breath. Tsuna put a hand to his beating heart and sagged down as he realized what had gone off. At least it was only his second in command's bombs and not something even more dangerous trying to end him. The 14 tear old thought he had told Gokudera to leave them behind in the hotel room but he had obviously taken a few with him. To his left Tsuna could hear Gokudera yelling about the deer harassing the 10th to Yamamoto and 'why did the baseball nut ruin his aim, he could have made the bomb hit the 10th!' Laughing nervously Tsuna turned to the two girls behind him trying to block out Gokudera's ranting and fix his clothes.

"Kyoko-chan, Haru-chan are you two ok?" He asked.

"Ya we're fine, so is Reborn-san!" Haru said moving her book back from in front of Tsuna as well as cupping the side of a small figure resting on her shoulder.

Tsuna did a double take and saw his tutor was on Haru's shoulder, as cool as could be. The infant hitman was standing on the girl with his legs put a bit sideways and crossed, leaning on Haru's head. Despite the explosion Reborn's pitch black fedora and suit were impeccable as always and not a hair was put out of place. Even the curly sideburns hadn't moved as far as Tsuna could tell. Tsunayoshi leaned back and pointed a finger at the little figure.

"Wah, Reborn? What are you doing here!?"

Oh NO! When his school had announced the spring vacation trip Tsuna thought he might have a real vacation from Reborn and his insane training. There was supposed to be no bombs, no guns, no mafia family out to get him, and definitely NO training. But this was Reborn he was talking about, he should have known better.

"Dame-Tsuna." The little hitman said in that 'you are so stupid. Have you learned nothing from me' tone. "Even hitmen need breaks from time to time, and I wanted to go deer hunting." The infant said holding Leon in gun form by his waist, the barrel giving off a sharp glint.

Taking this as a joke Kyoko chuckled behind a hand "Reborn you're so funny!"

Tsuna on the other hand knew Reborn was positively serious and began to panic. Who knew what the Nara Park officials might do to them for allowing what they would think was a harmless baby to kill the sacred deer with an m45!

"Reborn you can't! These deer are sacred, protected! We'll get in trouble if you do anything like that!" Tsuna flailed his arms trying to get his point across before anything happened.

"You can't tell me what to do Dame-Tsuna. Besides, there are enough deer here that nobody would notice if one or two disappear."

Reborn silently enjoyed the one whole minute of Tsuna hyperventilating and pleading for him to rethink his deer-hunting escapade.

"Whatever," Reborn cut in "I'm only taking one deer anyways so stop your whining."

At that Tsuna looked like he might faint. Gokudera having seen this was marching straight for his boss and looked like he wanted to rip Reborn a new one, infant hitman of great killing ability or not. At least with Gokudera, Reborn would get some great faces instead of the no-good-Tsuna's over reactions.

As he watched Gokudera draw nearer Reborn felt something make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. This had nothing to do with bombs being lit right in front of him. The infant hummed in slight interest until he felt a more insistent pressure from his instincts. Broken from his musing and anticipation of a fight with Gokudera, Reborn straitened up and turned slightly on Haru's shoulder, gripping Leon near his waste. Some sort of presence was right there, to the left of the group and slightly hidden from sight by Haru's head.

Completely ignoring the oncoming Strom Guardian the infant turned and spotted a large deer. Of all things setting off alarms in his head an animal was not high on his list. It had more chest muscle then the other deer around and looked like it might not even be the same type. While it looked full-grown there were still the baby fawn spots on it's hide like the Sitka deer but it had longer legs and a longer, slimmer neck. At the base of the left antler there seemed to be a white scar. Since he was looking at the deer head on it formed a lightning bolt with the base of the left antler. What struck Reborn the most was it's silky black fur and wide, watery doe eyes the shade of green hazel. A mix that mother nature usually did not approve of unless it was on a feline. The presence was emanating from that strange deer and it seemed to scream poise and precision as if it was expecting something.

'_Like the king of a forest._' Reborn couldn't help but muse.

Kyoko seemed to be interested in it too because she turned herself towards the deer with eyes lit up giving Reborn a better view. The girl's face split into a wide smile as she took in the deer.

"Oh look at it! How cute! It's black!" She chirped, holding both hands to her chest in excitement.

Just then Gokudera showed up with his face red and grabbed Tsuna while muttering apologies about how he had to touch Juudaime without his permission. He had to get him away from the mobster deer everywhere. Yamamoto came by with Gokudera, said hi and then left again following the bomb thrower and Tsuna. Noticing the people it had been watching leave, the black deer seemed to go off as well but, it made only slow movements and was looking directly at Reborn and Haru. Still board and wanting to provoke Tsuna some more Reborn took up his current options and decided some investigation was in order. Even if the black deer was just pretty it would look well as a new rug or a trophy in his section of Tsuna's room plus he was bored. He could just imagine the mounted deer head staring at Dame-Tsuna all night. The hitman could definitely turn that into another lesson for the future 10th boss. What that lesson would be? Well, he'd think it up later.

"Hey Haru, go left." Reborn ordered leaving no room for question.

Blinking once, then twice, Haru looked at the infant in confusion. Tsuna-kun and everyone else was going in the other direction.

"Why?"

Reborn didn't even look down to answer her, he just kept looking at the slow moving deer.

"I want to pet that deer." The infant stated and tried not to seem suspicious considering he did just declare hunting season on the immediate wildlife.

Happy smiles, no resistance. Silly girl.

"Oh ok!"

Simpleton.

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

Seeing there wasn't anything attacking him, Harry released most of the tension in his muscles. He needed to calm down after that. There were perks of being a deer and setbacks; one was heightened sense, another was speed. Unfortunately the drawbacks were a state of CONSTANT VIDULANCE that would make Mad Eye proud and twitchy nerves tantamount to a seizure every time something started him. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Harry expected for his nose to register the sweet sent of flowers and grass but he got something else. The ebony coated deer nearly gagged at what he inhaled. The sent of cursed magic permeated one of the girls and drowned her real sent under a spattering of stench. She couldn't have been older than 16 years old but the sent smelled as if it had existed for hundreds of years. Her features were youthful and full of energy with two clips on her bangs and her hair in a small ponytail. Earthy brown eyes turned out to be the same exact shade of color and her completion was more tan than the girl standing next to her. Her clothes were the same uniform as the others but her knee high socks were just a bit longer. The energy she had seemed to be getting restless because she bounced on the ball of her heel from time to time. Harry didn't know how she functioned under that smell.

When the girl shifted again Harry saw the strangest baby he had ever seen, not that he'd seen many. Dressed from head to toe in black and white with a yellow pacifier, the infant seemed fine with his perch on the girl's shoulder while she moved. In fact the baby didn't look like it minded being held in place only by her hand. When the girl (Haru, the brown haired boy had called her) moved again he got another whiff of the magic. It seemed to be emanating from the girl's right side, the side pointed away from him, and the side the little baby was resting on. Was the girl the baby's mother?

Wow… they got younger and younger.

A commotion that looked suspiciously like the brown haired boy and the baby were arguing (which Harry thought was ridiculous since the baby looked to young to talk properly) started and ended with the older having a conniption fit and being dragged away by a silver haired male. For a second Harry thought Malfoy had shown up and found him but Harry mentally sighed in relief as he saw the uneven cut hair and muggle clothes. There were two things Malfoy wouldn't stand for at all.

Wind blew a bit stronger for a second sending a third wave of cursed air at Harry again. This time the wind blew right up his nose, a great extra snout full. Inside the sent was the girls smothered underneath but also … he could smell the baby's sent stronger that the girls. This was odd because the baby also didn't smell anything like his mother …er sister… babysitter, whatever. Her sent was light and airy, probably just like her brain was, and it was almost like smelling popery. The baby's sent was stronger, MUCH STRONGER, like Old Spice strong. Coffee and cigarette smoke wasn't exactly what he wanted to be around almost as much as the magic's smell.

In short the baby was the one infected!

What witch or wizard could do something like that to a baby? Granted, Voldemort had tried to kill him multiple times as a child and the Death Eaters were not nice to children either. Still, this was something complex and very powerful. Someone took the time and energy to super charge whatever this behemoth of a pile of sludge was. Could this child have been affected by the war? The little guy was muggle, albeit very strange and eccentric like witches and wizards were, so maybe muggleborn? But then wouldn't the baby be in some way fighting the curse? Looking at the girl and her baby again Harry's own magic couldn't feel a basted thing from her other than the curse. Gilt washed over Harry because that meant the baby was muggle and attacked viscously.

He hated to think about it now but another reason why he had wanted to leave wizarding society was the responsibility the community felt he still had to them. The ministry wanted him to go attend fundraisers for pompous politicians instead of fundraisers for children hurt during the war. No matter what job he would have entered there would have been pressure to use his face for anything and everything marketable. Harry didn't want his fame to be used now, plus the wizarding community was starting to rely to heavily on him again. However, with a child that was most likely hurt from the war he failed to stop sooner right in front of him, Harry felt obligation help.

He had to get the girl to follow him. Most likely he would have to separate the baby from the mom in order to handle the baby properly and not scare the mom when the curse was taken off. The baby seemed to be interested in him at the moment if the blank stare he was getting from the kid was anything to go on. If he could just get the mom to move into the trees near the center of the park he might be able to lure the baby away while she was distracted by something else.

With hastily put together plan in mind Harry slowly started to walk away, hoping to gain the baby's attention and make him react, thus getting the moms attention and hopefully leading her away from her group. Sure enough, both the presumably young mom and the baby fallowed him a split second after he started walking away. Trying not to look interested at all, Harry stopping from time to time near the lake and then near Bruno.

Harry slowly made his way to a line of trees that had grown together kind of tight. Inside there was a clearing the raven-haired wizard used to portkey to his temporary home, a small "castle" he bought from a wealthy Japanese "mahō shōjo" who didn't want to take care of it anymore. With all the money and magical items Harry had cleaned out of his vaults right before leavening he had enough money to buy the run down castle two times over. If push came to shove he could just portkey the baby and himself to his home in human form, remove the curse more comfortably and then have him back there in about three hours. Not his best plan B but it would have to do.

Actually, at the thought of turning back into a human Harry's skin started to itch a bit. Harry's real form was dressed in a simple white embroidered yukata with a blue layer underneath. A Japanese wheal design surrounded by what looked like fish scales and ivy reached up from the hem of his outer yukata and ended at his thy. His feet and part of his calves were wrapped in bandages since it felt great to feel the earth beneath his feet. Harry's hair had grown out as well, not by much but enough so he had to put it in two ponytails at the base of his neck held by two flat lengths of crisscrossing metal.

With all the legends about deities and creatures called Tenshi, Harry figured if he ever got caught changing from his animagus form whoever saw him would think he was a forest god or demon. So far he hadn't had to use that excuse yet, plus it was fun to dress up like this and the clothes were perfect for spring weather.

Walking in between the plants Harry noticed the mom and baby sitting down on a near by bench. As she sat there she talked animatedly to the baby and put him down on the ground. Instantly little hands went into pockets after putting the pacifier in his mouth.

'_What a little gangster_.' Harry mused.

Seemingly satisfied with himself the baby turned in Harry's direction and walked with sure steps. One more odd thing the infant did must be a prodigy. Oh well that didn't matter now, what mattered was that he could get the baby away from his mother.

Moving further into the small grove of trees Harry finally separated the two. He didn't think it would be this easy to separated the baby from his mother but there it was, toddling along with that little fedora and suit. It was actually quite cute.

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

After pushing the bush out of the way Reborn saw the deer again. It had stopped in a clearing and was turned to face him directly. Obsidian colored fur shined in the bright light that went though the trees and the cream colored undercoat and spots along its sides reflected the green grass in a pastel tone. The hazel eyes that previously looked dull seemed to have brightened to an almost emerald color to the point where it swallowed the black center. The fallow deer's head was curved gracefully towards him and it was then that Reborn realized that one antler, the left one, was a lighter color then the other as well as longer, the right antler looked like it had simply grown short or fallen off later then the other.

Reborn squinted, cautiously getting closer to the large creature. The little hitman could definitely sense a dyeing will flame emanating from the animal, but why would it? While Tsuna, Gokudera, Hibari and the rest of the Vongola did have an animal it was never their animal that had a flame, the creature simply represented the person who's flame brought them to life.

'Come on baby, juuuust a little closer and I can get that nasty curse off you.' Harry said softly knowing that the baby couldn't understand him. *

Reborn held out his hand for the deer to sniff. If he wanted to see what kind of dying will the animal had he needed to get closer and shoot a bullet into its mouth. As the black deer lowered its head Reborn looked into its eyes and realized there was intelligence behind them. It looked old and slightly pained beyond its years but shone in the strangest vivid color of green he had ever seen. Just as the deer's cold wet nose was about to touch the center of his little chubby palm it turned and struck.

Harry was glad when the little guy had stretched out his hand politely asking if Harry wanted to get to know him better. He must have watched his mother do that earlier and was now copying her. A hair's breathe away from touching the little guy with his nose, Harry changed direction and licked him from chest to forehead all over his tuxedo and pacifier. The motion of his head carried a bit of saliva up into the air and made his nose point to the sky. Harry heard the baby gasp and knew he had gotten what he wanted.

On his tongue like a living pulsating glob of black flesh, was the curse. Its pungent rotting smell wasn't the worst he had ever dealt with but it still burnt his sensitive nose. Harry realized he would probably have to eat some raw chamomile buds and other herbs to settle his stomach after this.

Quickly capturing the curse in his mouth Harry slammed it down onto the ground, using a hoof to rip it apart and dismantle the magic into ineffective parts and then one by one the raven colored deer ate it.

Reborn on the other hand looked and felt sick. At first he had shivered because of the unexpected warm liquid, then he started getting angry. How the heck had he not noticed the deer was going to lick him? He was a trained hitman, the best, baby version or not!

Wiping his face Reborn pulled out Leon and pointed it at the deer as his vision cleared and felt his jaw open slightly letting the pacifier hang a bit loose. The large raven colored deer had something … living… in its mouth and was ripping it to shreds and devouring it like a mad dog. The cloven hooves were digging into whatever it was and pierced it right thought the mass and dragged backwards, gouging out dirt at the same time. Piece by piece the thing was ripped asunder and then swallowed, whole. Reborn stared in sick fascination. What the heck was that that thing in its mouth, better yet what the heck was this demon deer!?

"You, deer, what are you?" Reborn asked calmly having completely regained his composure.

He watched as the deer simply stood back up in its regal pose and watching the gun he held in his hand.

Swallowing the last piece Harry lifted his head and reared back his head. The baby had a gun pointed at his head, plus it just talked perfectly in Japanese! He really hoped it wasn't a real gun but considering his luck it might be.

'That baby is no longer cute! The curse should be deactivating right about now since I just finished absorbing it. Hopefully that will knock out this guy.'

Sure enough the baby's eyes lowered in drowsiness and his little hand with the gun started to wobble back down to earth.

God what was happening to him? His body felt tired all of a sudden like when he came back from an extensive mission. His limbs started to feel like they were filled with lead and so were his legs. Unable to keep himself upright Reborn collapsed onto the grass crushing the new sprouts under his little form. Losing his grip on Leon, the chameleon turned back into animal form and slithered onto his master's lowered shoulder looking at his face in concern.

Harry watched as the baby began to glow, his little form swallowed by the bright orb of light. He had expected lethargy and maybe some wooziness and puking. Not this. Harry decided to change back into a human just in case he had to help the baby. Feeling his limbs shorten and his back straighten into a regular spine Harry enjoyed the silk robes that flowed over his human limbs and around his feet.

Fully human again Harry watched in puzzlement. The light around the little one didn't dissipate, yet flared out at five different points. These five points began to take shake and long limbs emerge from them. White almost alabaster skin covered the silhouette emerging from the ball. The figure was littered with scars, some obvious, some almost completely faded, but there were definitely a few bullet holes. As the light began to subside back into what used to be an infant Harry realized that the baby wasn't there anymore. Instead, lying on the ground was a six-foot man obviously older then 25 with sculpted black hair and two curly sideburns that displayed near either cheek. His body was sculpted into a lethal weapon and his hands looked large and callused, but strong.

… and the fact the man/baby no longer had clothes on…

Well, he guessed you could say dressed only in his "birthday suit"…

Harry shrieked a very high pitched, unmanly shriek, face burning red and feeling off center. But at the moment he didn't care how girly he looked with his hands in front of his mouth and his eyes bulging out of his head; a naked MAN was NOT what he was expecting. AT. ALL!

Shaking, the raven-haired teen grabbed his silver bracelet firmly and pressed onto a large blue gem shouting the activation words and popping out of existence.

/++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++/

*I'm not sure if that's the real person who is in charge.

* "Dear" "deer", get it? … no? Ya I agree, it was lame w;

* I imagine deer "talk" silently so Harry isn't making any noise but small movement we humans don't normally notice.


	2. Arcobaleno

I'm SO SORRY for the long wait in-between chapters. ;w; I'm not going to make excuses for why it has taken so long, just that life happens.

Again, there is no beta reader and I completely agree with Ireadtomuch, but in between trying to get my first job (ever), and everything else the subject completely slipped my mind. I can get feed back for improving myself by asking a beta so I'm searching now. I still decided I was going to post this though; hopefully nobody is disappointed by this.

I've been doing bits and pieces for this second chapter in-between life's event calendar days and hopefully it has come out looking better than the first one. Hehehehe w;

(I also looked over my first chapter and cringed. I tried fixing it myself, again, but it's still bad.)

Oh you guys have no idea how shocked I was at so many comments! I thought I might get… 3, at the most, all telling me I sounded like a wannabe J.K. Rowling. Instead I got you guys and that's not a bad thing at all!

I've done a lot of Wiki surfing and trying to watch episodes on Crunchyroll so I know more about the Reborn! series than before. I seriously love Fon and Hibari's character designs.

Thanks so much you guys! /:w:/

Hopefully the wait was worth it and I'm sorry if it wasn't.

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

Last time:

_The figure was littered with scars, some obvious, some almost completely faded, but there were definitely some bullet holes. As the light began to subside back into what used to be an infant Harry realized that the baby wasn't there anymore. Instead, lying on the ground, was a six-foot man obviously older than 25, with sculpted black hair and two curly sideburns that displayed near either cheek. His body was sculpted into a lethal weapon and his hands looked large and callused, but strong._

… _and the fact the man/baby no longer had clothes on…_

_Well, he guessed you could say dressed only in his "birthday suit"…_

_Harry shrieked a very high pitched, unmanly shriek, face burning red and feeling off center. But at the moment he didn't care how girly he looked with his hands in front of his mouth and his eyes bulging out of his head; a naked MAN was NOT what he was expecting. AT. ALL_!

**Arcobaleno**

When his knees hit the ground and his sight turned white the infant hitman knew he was in serious trouble. Whatever had happened to him was taking effect, fast. At this rate, within minutes he would be completely incapacitated and vulnerable. Reborn's struggle against the weight in his limbs did nothing. Even Leon who had taken up residence on his shoulder felt like a tone of bricks and wasn't helping at all.

That damn deer! It had to be some type of trick created by another mafia family. He'd seen crazier weapons than this so it was possible. If he completely lost consciousness he would be an easy target!

'_This is not happening! Like hell I'm going down because I pet a stupid animal…!_'

A jolt of what felt like electricity shot though his body from head to toe causing him to twitch slightly. Darkness was claiming his sight in its wake and bleeding out the white. He had to see what might attack him! He had to get up some type of defense! A perimeter!

Opening his eyes as wide as he could and focusing Reborn saw a small pinprick in the white and black clouding his sight. Through that hole he could see, and for just a split second Reborn glimpsed a person standing over him almost at Tsuna's height. Reborn was struck speechless. Was this the person who would do him in?

Clothed in simple, embroidered silk garments, the creature before him looked like it had stepped out of a Japanese fairy tail. The embroidery was tastefully done in colors that blended perfectly and left the rare, pristine white covering to shine out. Every stitch was small and tightly packed together in perfect circles and loops. Twin wings of hair floated behind the creature the color of ink and was held together by woven silver. A marking on its forehead carved into the shaped of a lightning bolt was the only obvious malformation. Reborn wasn't sure if the scar was real or not but he watched as the light played over it, sending flashes of emerald sparks. Was that a dyeing will flame? Reborn could sense it from his position on the ground, but the normal feel of a flame wasn't projected from a single spot, yet from all over the creature.

'_Almost like what we Arcobaleno can do with our Dying Will Flames_.'

Reborn wished he could make out more features of the creature, but with so little light streaming from the treetops and the thing's natural black hair over its face he could only make out the flashes of emerald. Was this a guardian spirit? 'A forest deity that slept here in the grove of trees?'

The answers to that could wait later; Reborn thought he could feel the last of his senses shutting down. Jolts and tingles subsided down into his fingertips and then dissipated. His world turned to black. The last thing he heard was a shrill cry and a crack like thunder. It shook him to his core.

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

*Kashamiryu "castle"; a forgotten piece of Japanese history that lay between other traditional Japanese style compounds. The path like street that ran in front of the castle's front wall and gate looked ordinary and made of cement. On the inside a dense forest of trees surrounded the small structures within, lightly hiding the buildings from curious eyes without the aid of magic. Even without the trees, the structures would have seemed dilapidated and run down to muggles, a protective measure on the magical building's part. Comprised of buildings only one story high and a small courtyard in the center, Kashamiryu was small compared to other personal castles. Most likely it had once belonged to a small daimyo's family and wasn't a main house.

From inside the hallways that lead to the main portion of the complex, a laud crack heralded the arrival of the land's new owner. The sound of a body meeting wood resounded a split second later. More sounds, this time scuffing and swearing in British, could be heard. Harry fought frantically with his tangled clothes. In his haste to get away from the shocking turn of events the raven-haired teen forgot to ready himself for his own landing. Harry's face flushed a bit in remembrance and embarrassment at his reaction.

No matter what Harry did he could never stick a landing with a portkey. If he had any say in his transportation too and from his home the raven would have picked apparating*. The only thing that stopped him was the monitoring system set up by the ministry. If he had decided to forgo using his portkey, then they would be notified where he had apparated too and from as well as the times he did so. Portkey's could at least be placed with an anti-tracking charm courtesy of Hermione or the Weasley head of house.

Gripping the first layer of clothes Harry fought even harder to straiten himself out. He still could NOT believe what just happened. First off there was, what he thought to be, a young mother with her weirdly dressed baby. Then he thought that the baby had a curse (which he did) and came up with a desperate and random plan to help get the curse off of the defenseless infant (which had worked a little to well). When the plan did succeed the infant turns into a buck naked guy covered in scars! Why couldn't his life at least have some semblance of normalcy for very long?

"Must be that 'bleeding heart syndrome…" he muttered to his house under his breath.

Finally after a rather vicious tug at his clothes Harry realized he hadn't taken off his sash keeping the silk together. The raven-haired teen couldn't help but sigh. Grabbing the Japanese belt Harry finally managed to free himself from the first layer and as the silk fell from around his shoulders he found he could move again.

Once he had straitened himself out, re-tied the sash, and righted the bandages covering his feet, Harry made his way to the designated kitchen area. He thought better of eating raw chamomile this time and decided maybe if he brewed the flowers instead things might go better for his health. He had to get started with the tea right away though because he could feel the curse roiling around in his stomach.

The kitchen was down the hall and to the right, past a small garden that peeked though windows and grew vines up the walls. Like the rest of the complex it was left mostly untouched. The family magic collected from generations bathed the complex in dignity and self-repairing abilities that left it pristine to the eyes of those who were invited inside. From the moment the last true clan member of the Kashimiryu family perished the complex came to life in self preservation, only allowing wildlife to make small homes in it's trees and under the floor boards. The reason why the previous owner had become fed up enough to sell it was the castle's stark rejection of her. She was born from a clan member once banished from the castle for stealing another man's wife so thus the castle never allowed her inside.

Walking past a window Harry took a swift glance outside. The garden was set up in a square shape. Half of the square garden's borders were created by the main houses' walls while the other half was created by small rocks and by a distinctive camphor tree. Under one of the building's walls, consequently one of the kitchen's, was a small den. As far as Harry could see either no one was home at the moment or they were all sleeping underground. That was fine with Harry since he would undoubtedly be cooking and making a lot of noise above them.

'_Anything to complete this day with a less shocking note. I've had enough of those days for a life time._'

Sliding back the old shoji door to the kitchen, Harry pulled back his sleeves and tied them up so they didn't get dirty. First came the tea. Pulling out a glass teapot with a copper bottom that shown through like polished metal Harry filled it almost to the brim with water. Reaching back behind a large vase of cotton puff flowers his hand drew back with a small cabinet like container. It was made of red wood and had parcel tags on each little round handle as a label. Going to the forth drawer labeled 'chamomile' in elegant English hand writing, Harry pulled out 5 buds and leaves then plopped them into the glass tea pot. Small drops of water fell out and against the sides as the essence fell to the bottom leaving streaks of yellow and pale green coloring on the way down. Harry watched as the water droplets on the side were absorbed back into the glass teapot.

This had been a gift from Neville when he left the wizerding world. Like Hermione, Ron, and Luna, Neville had been clued in to his departure and helped him set up his life in Japan. The glass teapot acted a lot like the Japanese ceremonial teapots. It absorbed some of the tea brewed in it every time and when tea was made again it added a distinct, truly unique flavor. The more you used it the better the quality of tea. This was a wonderful idea to Harry who now enjoyed quality in simple things.

Pushing the glass top to the teapot in place caused more water to flow over the side, this time with a hint of pale coloring. The top fazed into place and would not come off until the tea was ready. Setting the teapot onto the stove Harry turned on the heat and waited for his drink.

In the middle of the kitchen was an oak table large enough for five people to sit comfortably and Harry picked the end closes to the stove to wait. Rubbing his temples the raven hared teen couldn't help but go back to the events just a few minutes prier and felt his gut gurgle in protest; the contents still putting up a fight to be completely converted.

What exactly had he eaten? The curse had smelled old, like faded parchment, but at the same time is smelt like rotting meat forever ageing but never turning to dust. With that and the overlaying sent of magic it was no wonder his stomach was having a hard time digesting the curse. He just hoped that he didn't get sick from this because then he might have to call Hermione and Neville and then there would be lots of worrying and scolding that should have stopped when he reached 18 yrs of age.

What gave him pause the most was the aftermath of lifting the curse. He had watched as the light signaling the curse's effect reversing reveal a man with a cold, European countenance. When he had first seen the infant there was odd moments of movement or behavior that didn't fit with someone afflicted with a de-ageing cure. When a curse of that nature is cast, the afflicted person's behavior changes to whatever age they were transformed into. If you were 20 yrs old and cursed to be 14 yrs old then you would lose some coordination with your limbs, speak colloquialisms you outgrew before, and take an interest in games and toys not befitting your previous age. The infant had walked like a grown man, and had a blank face customary for businessmen or … dare he think it… assassins to have. Unbidden, the image of one or two of the more 'professional' Snatchers came to mind.

The sound of his tea whistling brought him out of his thoughts. Harry grabbed a cream colored cup and lifted the teapot, poring it's contents into the mug. The instant the tea hit his stomach there was no more fighting from the curse. Sighing in relief Harry suddenly felt the day get to him and decided he would retire early. Forget dinner, he'd just have a bigger breakfast.

Taking his tea with him further into his new home, Harry couldn't help but think maybe living in Japan wasn't going to be so quiet after all.

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

The first thing Reborn thought of was that his back hurt and he wanted to shoot something. Second, a wet, slimy and slightly ruff thing was slobbering all over his face and made him feel absolutely disgusting. He would shoot that thing.

Making a grab for Leon and shivering in revulsion Reborn sat up to take aim. He felt like he'd just been run over by a mac truck, twice, and his sense of balance was completely off. From his waist up Reborn swayed dangerously and had to put one hand out to steady himself. A group of deer was surrounding Reborn and looking at him with hungry eyes. Their ears were pricked forwards and tails slightly wagging in anticipation of the tasty wafers visiting humans sometimes carried around with them.

"Reborn-saaaaaaaaaan! Where are you? We have to leave now!" a light girl's voice carried though the trees.

Ah, that silly girl Haru was calling.

Eyes round and white at the edges glanced about quickly. The call caused the deer to flee in every direction. They may have been used to crowds and buses but sudden laud noises sometimes made instincts kick in despite that.

Reborn shook his head and massaged his temples. What had he been doing out here? He remembered everything up until about ten minutes ago. He was sure of that. One of the pestering deer had stayed behind and gotten close to him again and Reborn turned a vicious glare on it. He pointedly turned his head down so his eyes were just visible under his fedo-…

A hand patted the top of his head looking for a hat and didn't find any. Great… so not only was he completely naked, but his hat was gone as well.

In his mind's eye Reborn saw a flash of light, green eyes, a black deer and…

Instantly after the last image flashed before his eyes Reborn was up on his feet and gripping Leon in gun form. The Arcobaleno looked for the creature that did this to him, instead he saw the park deer, park deer, another park deer…. No black deer. Dang it. It had slipped away completely unnoticed while he was out cold on the grove floor. It was when he looked DOWN at the park deer that he realized his body had changed. No longer was he only about three feet high. No, now he was six feet, 3 inches.

His old body was back.

Reborn's impassive face shifted into one of complete surprise and if anyone who knew him had been around they might have fainted. Suddenly, he didn't care about not having clothes anymore. Slowly putting out one arm, the one holding Leon, he studied his skin and saw all his old wounds were back and just as he remembered them. There was the bullet wounds from his first mission when had been careless and had not checked for other hitmen. Then there were the scars from numerous knife fights, scars from surgeries, and one he had actually acquired from a chain saw of all things.

On top of that his body felt lighter as did his mood. The usual tight control on his emotions was frayed but not cut and he was surprised to find he was ok with that. Running his other hand up and down his scarred arm left him in even more awe. For years the Arcobaleno had tried to find a way to reverse or lift the curse from themselves. The holder of the mist pacifier, Viper, tried incessantly day in and day out to break its hold. The black hooded infant obsessed over every detail he could gather for himself about the matter. Reborn felt that he curse made them obsessed in some way, shape, or form.

For Viper it was to master what had been done to all of them and break it apart. For Colonello it was becoming even stronger than he was before and keeping ahead of Lal Mirch. For Skull there was the need to be recognized by his sempai. For Fon it was keeping his outlook on life open to possibilities and new strengths. For Verde it was furthering his inventions to greater and greater levels. Lil Mirch kept things close to her heart but it was obviously her obsession was keeping her head above feeling she was nothing but the holder of a corrupted pacifier. For himself… for himself it had been the Sky Arcobalenos. First Luce, then Aria, and then Yuni.

Sad how he finally had proof that a cure for the curse existed but it came months too late for Yuni and years too late for her mother and grandmother. Reborn dug three fingernail into his arm until he bled. Just like the other scars, he could keep these for life.

One for each of the ones he failed.

From the slight pain Reborn's mind turned sharp. The curse had been lifted at some point when he blacked out. Had the black deer done this? The deity? Were they the same entity? Was it really a god… or had it been something else? Reborn quickly reached around his neck and sighed as he realized the pacifier was still in place, just snug on his neck like a choker. Tugging it off with a small snap, he observed the item he had carried around for years like a heavy burden on his back. The bright yellow he had associated with the pacifier had bleed out to a clear quality with some small white marbling. It was heavy and acted like it was made of solid glass now. In the fragmented light from the treetops it cast spats of rainbow on the grove floor exaggerating the shadows created by the moss and small grass.

'_Arcobaleno. Rainbow_.' Oh , he irony did not get past him.

A rustle came from right behind the hitman and alerted him that Haru had moved directly into the trees creating the grove. She was dangerously close to finding him in a new form, completely naked. Reborn was not one to go streaking around young girls so this had to be a delicate escape.

"Reborn-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

Slipping past a bunch of people where there was hiding spots everywhere would be a synch for a pro like him, but he didn't like doing it bare. Still he could manage perfectly fine. Maybe he would have to raid a suit store for some clothes if nothing else.

Readying himself, Reborn moved quietly past the deer that were still looking to him for snacks. Leon turned back into a chameleon and then invisible while hiding in Reborn's hair as best he could; his owner moving from one place to another as invisible as a shadow.

When Haru burst though the last patch of foliage separating her from where Reborn was she saw no one there.

"Huh… he must have gone up ahead and didn't want to bother me."

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

With that she turned around and made her way back to the group.

Gokudera practically leaned over Tsuna as he argued with Yamamoto. Again.

The three had retreated back to the main group of students and away from the 'mobster deer' from earlier. Everyone had moved on to the edges of the grounds and was waiting for the buses to come and get them from Nara Park. Despite Gokudera's maneuvering a group of deer had followed them to the waiting point like they did with every other human who had given them food.

Tsuna put a hand on Gokudera and Yamamoto's chests trying to get them to back up from one another with no reaction; that is if you discounted Gokudera's flaming red face. While Yamamoto wasn't exactly 'arguing' per say, he wasn't letting Gokudera win the battle of wills either. Tsunayoshi chalked it up to his Rain Guardian thinking he was playing another game and was determined to come out on top.

"Stop making all that noise or I'll bite you to death." A dark tinted voice rumbled over them.

Swiveling around all three boys turned to a dark haired teen who looked like death had warmed over. Pitch black hair hung limply over black eyes of the same color. The teen's skin was pale and had an unhealthy sheen to it. His hands twitched and he was bundled up in three layers of sweaters, the top one dyed black, despite the warm air. Sticking out of a back pocket was a packet of tissues that was almost empty and with good reason; Hibari's nose was bright red along with a line of color over his cheeks.

Kyoya Hibari did not look well at all.

"Hi…Hibari-san! You shouldn't be out here!"

Tsuna's concerned voice wavered under the sharp glare directed at him. The 10th Vongola boss had wondered if his Cloud Guardian would be out here surveying Naminori's student's despite his health. He had thought about bringing some of his mother's soup over to Hibari's house before they left but thought better of it. He liked all his body parts right where they were, thank you. When the wayward cloud had shown up to school, prepared to go along with his year group, Tsuna simply kept his mouth shut.

Hibari's face didn't change but he was a bit unprepared for the usually frightened student's concerned comment. He did not need the herbivore making things complicated by belting out his current weakened state. Hi-bird was already a sufficient worrier. The little yellow bird sat on his shoulder as close as it could get, constantly trying to put his frayed hair behind his ears. If it had been anyone else doing that he would have made good on his usual threat.

"S… still." Tsuna replied as if Hibari had been talking back to him the whole time. "If you're sick you should have stayed at the hotel room. Or sat on one of the benches and taken it easy! What wou…Eep!"

The caramel coffee haired boy went completely silent as a white and black tonfa nudged him under his chin. Tsuna began to shake and he put up two hands with palms out towards Hibari in a sign of submission.

"Ah… hehehehe… ne… never mind Hibari-san."

The Disciplinary Head simply narrowed void black eyes as an answer and lowered the tonfa, surprisingly willing to let it go now that he had gotten his point across. That would have been the end of that if only Yamamoto had kept his mouth shut.

"Aw. Tsuna's just worried about you Hibari. He just wants you to stay healthy since you must be really weakened. You've been running around a lot since the trip started." the basketball player chirped. "On the baseball team even if you're spirit is in the game when your body is sick you have to stay on the bench."

Gokudera looked like he might strangle the taller teen any second, Yamamoto grinned, and Tsuna turned an ashy white color. The smallest dreaded the reaction to that comment and prayed to god he didn't get hit too much. He lost enough brain cells from Reborn as it was! Sure enough a small fight broke out with Yamamoto dodging, Gokudera lighting bombs, Tsuna running for Kyoko, and Hibari puffed up like an angry cat. Apparently being sick made the usually cool headed boy a bit more agitated than usual and a little less accurate with his strikes.

"Stop! Please Hibari-san!" Tsuna cried as he watched his Storm, Rain, and Cloud go at it. He imagined a monsoon as they circled each other. He had to deflect a bit of dirt from Kyoko who was watching everything with amusement.

Eventually Gokudera and Yamamoto were hit on the head and arms enough to call it a beating for Hibari, who didn't even bother saying anything else to them as he turned and walked up to the arriving buses. Perfect timing! The tour buses were bright blue with white racing stripes on the side and black tinted windows for shade. Proudly displayed in dark blue letters were "Cloud 9 Travels!" telling all who saw just what company provided them with service.

Sighing in relief and instantly flanked by Gokudera again, Tsuna waited in line to walk onto the first bus with Hibari, who was farther up. Yamamoto just waved back at his friends and made for the second bus while gesturing at Haru standing beside him. Haru waved and disappeared into the bus fallowed by Kyoko and her brother, the Sun Guardian Ryouhei.

Tsuna frowned for a second and got a bad feeling upon seeing no Reborn on Haru-chan's shoulder. The small teen looked up at the sky imploringly, despite the glaring sun.

'Please let him not actually be deer hunting. Please let him not actually be deer hunting.'

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

The next day the sun shown bright and early. Luckily Tsunayoshi was rooming with Gokudera and not someone like, say, Hibari. Initially Gokudera had been going on and on about protecting Tsuna and how he was honored to be selected to room with the Juudaime. Some times Tsuna simply didn't know what to make of his enthusiastic friend but, he was loyal, a good person, and genuinely cared about him, so the odd comments were ok. He just had to hear them every morning.

"Really, it's ok for you to take a shower first Gokudera!" Tsuna said as he tried to push his silver haired room-mate into the bathroom.

"But 10th you should really go first! There was a lot of stress yesterday and what if you caught that cold Hibari bastard contracted. Can't understand why he would be around the rest of us! He wanted us to catch a cold! I…"

"JUST GO!" Tsuna cried in frustration and morning sleepiness.

It was no longer about who went first or second anymore. It was more about getting Gokudera to quite down and do what he said! Hibari was in the adjacent room and he was sure the dark haired teen could hear everything, or would hear everything from someone else. It was only a matter of time before he came bursting in and 'bit them to death'. Despite his invigorated pushing and shoving nothing budged the young Italian.

"Look Gokudera-kun." Tsuna finally said in desperation " I'll take a shower with you, all right? That way, things go twice as fast. I get my way and you get yours."

At that Gokudera's face turned beet red and his grip on the doorframe relaxed. Unfortunately Tsuna pushed at the same time and both lost their footing, but only Gokudera kissed the floor. The smaller teen worried for half a second about his second in command's face before Gokudera popped back up as if nothing happened and started ranting and waving his hands again.

There his friend went on another spiel. No matter what he said in the morning Gokudera seemed to be adverse to it.

"Hoya. Dame-Tsuna. Can't you even control your second in command?" a taunting voice said from the bedroom.

Tsuna looked back over his shoulder and saw the door open wider from where it had slightly closed with their stumbling. Standing before them wasn't who they thought would be there. A dark haired man wearing a fedora and pitch blank suit glared with his back straight and hands folded behind him. His undershirt was a cream color with pinstripe white lines running vertically without a single wrinkle in it. The tie around his neck was a blood red hue that shined in a way only quality fabric held and loosely hanging from a chain on his wrist was a clear and white marbled pacifier. Tsuna felt like he should know the man and couldn't help but guess who he might be simply from the curly side burns.

"Reborn? Is that you?" Tsuna asked his face scrunched up in slight trepidation.

A large smile split the man's face in two, which pushed his eyes under dark shadows. Both Gokudera and Tsuna felt a shiver of dread rush down their spines at the look.

"Why yes Dame-Tsuna." The man crowed and lifted a hand to adjust his fedora.

The caramel haired boy didn't know what to think of this response and froze, simply taking in the man standing before him. He certainly radiated the same type of ' I'll be killing you later. Just so's ya know' aura.

Gokudera put himself between Tsuna and the man claming to be Reborn not liking the man one bit. The Italian ground his teeth together in warning. This guy couldn't be the infant. Sure, he looked like an older version of the hitman but the age was too much of a difference. From what he understood the Arcobaleno curse couldn't be removed so easily. Reborn had only been gone 12 hrs and him showing up cured in such a short amount of time sounded ridiculous. This guy must be an imposter of some sort hoping to get close to the 10th! Gokudera's middle folded in as he leaned down to his pockets. Retracting his hand he whipped out four bombs in each fuses already lit and ready to explode in the imposter's face.

"You can't be Reborn you fake!" He shouted and held this weapons threateningly out towards the man. "You're body is much to old to be the infant terror! I will not allow you to get near Juudaime!"

Tsuna started at the bombs in Gokudera's hands.

"No Gokudera! You'll blow us all up in here!" Tsuna cried out and made a dive for the Storm Guardian's hands.

Gokudera gave a cry of his own as blurs swiped at the fuses trying to put them out.

Reborn quietly snorted and watched the ensuing tangle of limbs, shouting, undignified shirt pulling and general bedlam on the bathroom floor. He wouldn't stop them any time soon simply because it was funny watching Tsuna attempt to save everyone from being blown sky high and Gokudera turn different shades of red as the boy tried to get away. Dame-Tsuna definitely wasn't making it easy for the Storm Guardian he noted.

"Dame-Tsuna. I don't particularly care if you believe me at the moment but stop molesting your second in command and sit up." Reborn added an edge of steel to his words and crossed his arms over his chest.

From his position over Gokudera, Tsuna blinked at the would-be older-Reborn and then looked own at Gokudera who was pretty much out cold and sporting a mild nosebleed.

Pulling his hands away Tsuna stood up. "Hiiiiiii! Gokudera! Gokudera wake up!"

The caramel haired teen lifted up his friend and shook him form the shoulders, panicking unnecessarily, in Reborn's opinion. Gokudera simply mumbled inchoately in an automatic response to his Juudaime's calling.

'No hope for either of them. Tsunayoshi is as oblivious as ever and Gokudera can't string two appropriate words together when it really counts.' Reborn stepped back from the door and motioned to Tsuna.

"Put him on the bed. We need to talk. Now." He grabbed the back of Tsuna's shirt, knowing the kid would keep a hold of Gokudera who couldn't be trusted on his own two feet at the moment.

Flinging Tsuna towards Gokudera's bed positioned up against the right wall of the room, Reborn sat down with one leg crossed on Tsuna's bed. After some minor fussing from Tsuna and a tucked in Gokudera the only alert teen in the room turned back to who he was starting to believe really was Reborn.

Reborn himself didn't even blink at his student's scrutiny. Before, Tsunayoshi would have simply bowed down to people like Reborn and believed anything they said, but now the boy questioned things. That was good and Reborn felt a little pride for his student who might be finally adopting the supplementary lessons of being a Vongola boss. He would reward Tsuna later, right now there was going to be a bigger problem than fainting SICs. Not missing a beat, Reborn fitted his fingers together and laid them on his lap. Leon appearing at the brim of his hat and looking down on Tsunayoshi.

"The Arcobaleno curse has been broken." Finally saying it out in the open air sunk reality into the hitman who haden't realized he was still somewhat dazed.

"…How?" Tsuna whispered as he sat down next to Gokudera's prone form. The boy himself groaning with his consciousness rising to the surface.

"I know it might sound unbelievable to you but a deity at Nara Park removed it. More like devoured it." There. Blunt and to the point.

Reborn's student didn't seem like he believed him for a second but nodded his head anyways. A deity? Really? Something like that would be in such a chaotic, over populated place like Nara Park? Tsuna thought a deity would have picked some place quieter, like an ancient rickety temple on top of a mountain. Not the breeding ground for hundreds of tame deer. It never registered in Tsuna's mind he wasn't actually outright saying that deities didn't exist. He'd probably been desensitized from everything recently.

"What did the deity look like?"

Tsuna watched as Reborn's face hardened. Guess that part would be for later. The 27 yr old went on as if Tsuna hadn't said anything.

"I need to contact the other Arcobaleno right away. They might have been hurt by this or can sense that something has changed between us. Then there's also the possibility that the other's curses were effected by mine breaking."

Tsuna nodded, his hair fluffing up. He completely understood why Reborn needed to contact the others and was a bit surprised because it was almost as if Reborn was asking him PERMISSION to contact them. Was Reborn starting to treat him like a real Vongola boss now? Swallowing silently, Tsuna looked to Reborn's wrist where the ineffective pacifier hung limply. Like in the grove the clear item cast small circles and half moons of rainbow light, the dark patches created by the silver white veins running though it.

"Go about your day as if nothing has happened to me. If anyone asks where I am, tell him or her it's none of their damn business. Understand, Dame-Tsuna?"

Tsuna nodded again in compliance. "I understand, Reborn."

"Good." With that Reborn pushed up from the bed and walked towards the room's door.

Just as he opened the door and stepped outside he heard Tsuna call out a congratulations. A different smile from before flittered across the hitman's face for a split second and then it was gone.

He had people to contact and a deity to hunt.


	3. Partito

Ok let me start off with I WILL MAKE NO EXSCUSE FOR HAVING YOU GUYS WAIT SO LONG. NONE. WHAT. SO. EVER.

I feel like a jerk because you all have been watching me and waiting for stuff to be uploaded and well… I've been sitting on my ass in finishing up chapters. I have like 6 chapters with minimal work on them (but chap 4 is coming up sooner than planned actually…)

Also omg all the reviews!? Holy $h!t. There is so many I don't think I can reply to all of them. 0A0 For some reason my email has apparently been putting your review alerts in my spam section and it eventually empties out on its own so I'm reading everyone's comments for the first time. Honestly I didn't know you guys were that interested in this…. I'm actually reading them by looking myself up and clicking the review number w;

I can… kind of try…. to reply to some of you guys… I mean for crying out loud there's now 106 (Edit: it just went up to 107) comments I'm reading. I'm going to have to group stuff together…

Here goes!

++ PoisonAndSugar – omg all the detail in your pic is beautiful! Thank you so much! In return I'll show you some of my notes I did for the story, and by notes I mean picture.

**zaiats. / gallery/?catpath=scraps#/d5dgfpk**

**Note:** the box and rings probably won't make it into this story. They were just something I was playing with. Also I swear I can draw better deer than that. It looks like a fat dog…

++ I got a lot of paring questions and yes, it is **RebornxHarry** with **GokuderaxTsuna** and possibly **HibarixNeville** thrown in (Neville needs WAY more love. Plus he's kind of like a small animal even if he did grow a backbone in Seventh Year.) To what degree I'm not sure. Strongly leaning towards puppy love. Hibari IS only 16 in this.

++ I put the work on M to be safe and considering what I've seen around the site since I've been gone I might have saved my story because of it. Something about parents unable to watch their children on the computer. I saw "It says M for a reason" on a lot of Author Note chapters.

++ Everyone was really nice about his or her comments and I haven't gotten a single upset person telling me I'm representing characters wrong etc etc etc. So right on everyone! ;w;

++ Janelly Slytherin: I see you're jelly with the deity idea. 3 It's going to be hilarious when Reborn finds out what's really going on. Fuuuuufufufufufufufufufu.

++ Kirimi -1999: the only language I can speak/write/read is English and I screw that up so bad. I'm US American so I already butcher the English language by default. XD

++ I have seen mentions of Harry Hunting! This is very much Harry Hunting just with a better outcome than Dudder's sorry excuse for fun.

Ok I was crazy to even try and get through them all… ON WITH THIS (before I faint)!

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

Last time:

"_Go about your day as if nothing has happened to me. If anyone asks where I am, tell him or her it's none of their damn business. Understand, Dame-Tsuna?"_

_Tsuna nodded again in compliance. "I understand, Reborn."_

"_Good." With that Reborn pushed up from the bed and walked towards the room's door._

_Just as he opened the door and stepped outside he heard Tsuna call out a congratulations. A different smile from before flittered across the hitman's face for a split second and then it was gone._

_He had people to contact and a deity to hunt._

**Partito**

Tsunayoshi felt the back of his neck sweat even though the AC in the bus was turned on to Arctic Mode. The iPod shoved in his pocket was eagerly shared with Gokudera -who at the moment looked like God had descended. Good grief, all Tsuna had said was 'Gokudera-kun, you're bored right? We can share my music if you want?' and his right hand man had gone off on another 'Juudaime is the greatest' rant. He liked Gokudera but sometimes the brunette wanted to take a breather. That is, at least long enough to clear his head of Gokudera's undying loyalty for him. Tsuna did not have a death wish though, because sitting next to Gokudera was a far better choice than sitting next to a sick and irritated Disciplinary Leader.

Even though oblivious Gokudera was currently breathing on his neck… Tsuna tried not to turn cherry red.

It didn't help that Hibari was probably hungry back there and lunch wasn't for another hour. Tsuna wondered how Reborn was fairing and if uh… he had forgotten what happened in the bathroom earlier that day. Probably not but the hitman had left in an exceedingly good mood so maybe there wouldn't be any jabs for that incident. Well he could wish but probably wouldn't get it granted.

From next to Gokudera, Tsunayoshi sighed heavily and nearly knocked the ear bud out of his left ear. Everyone was currently heading back to the hotel they had left at 9:23am after touring the city some more. Hibari predictably kept everyone in line and had dished out punishment left and right, half of which went towards the 10th Vongola Family. Yamamoto had found a baseball bat keychain that he placed on a belt loop while the girls had carted around himself and the bomb-wielding protector of all things Juudaime. Coffee brown eyes squinted up at the descending sun and watched it pass in-between buildings and strategically placed trees. Wherever Reborn was Tsuna prayed that he found the answers he was looking for, the answers he had been struggling with for almost all his life. Maybe, just maybe, the noose around the hitman's neck was loosening a little and the man could take a breath of his own.

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

Rays of light slipped from behind the backs of mountains and rooftops by the time he had settled back down on earth. The sun shinned off the glass windows of houses and businesses, and into the faces of those still walking the brick and cement streets. Since the small private jet had taken off earlier that morning the dangerous hitman had made dozens of phone calls to 'connections' all over the world. Each connection had been forged through bloodshed and bribery, sometimes only intimidation; but he didn't value those very highly. Never before had the hitman been in need of so many people in the Familia. Solo work was his forte, and he played the piece nicely without skipping an ivory key. However, this wasn't a mere mortal or mafia hit he was dealing with and God help him if he messed up somehow, pun definitely intended. After thinking over what he had experienced and learned, Reborn believed whatever it was must be much, much older than the Vongola Familia if the small taste of well aged Dying Will Flame he had gotten was anything to go by.

In the heart of Italy there stood a place feared by many and was inhabited by people you would never want to meet in a dark ally. It stood seven stories high with strategically placed larger buildings built of old stone almost like English castles. This was the Vongola Familia's home and inside the headquarters there is a room every living soul avoids unless they were very, very strong. The room itself is scarred with pockmarks and long gashes in the previously pristine white plaster walls. Despite that, not much can be seen because the bulbs aren't on and only the fading sun lights up anything within. His current position happened to be inside this room and it looked like his short pit stop by Nono had taken more time then anticipated.

A hand brushed off non-existent dirt from a shoulder with slim fingers, keeping the pristine black look of the suit. Before him was a large black table, polished and buffed completely to perfection. Black leather chairs made for long business meetings were lined up and down the length of polished furniture. While he sat at the far end nearest the door the owner of the table sat at the front, framed by large windows overlooking the world. Everything else about the room was shadowed in varying hues of grey and black, but the frames of two paintings on either wall could be made out.

"VOI! A deity?! You expect us to believe that?!"

Reborn sighed though his nose unnoticeably. 'As laud and obtrusive as ever.'

"What do you take us for Reborn, fools?"

Now, it was the second in command chiming in.

"Does it like cake?"

If that one weren't certified psychotic and backed by the other men in the room he would have made a grab for the tiara wearing squirrelly boy. Lord knows if he had, there would have been an all out fight to rival the one just finished with Byakuran. Funny how they had turned from picking each other off like wolves to watching each other's backs when it was necessary.

The once infant hitman knew from the beginning there was going to be disbelieving accusations since his form had changed, but he hadn't realized there would be this much of a fuss over it. Sure, he had refused to be physically prodded by Mammon, Viper, the holder of the Mist Pacifier, but he had been inclined to believe it would be Viper throwing a fit over his cured status, not the rest of the Varia. He had come with a note from the 9th Vongola boss as well and yet the fools still felt he was lying in some form or another. Usually they would be correct since in a mafia negotiation it was always prudent to have an ace or two up your sleeve. Not this time though but they didn't necessarily need to know that either.

Xanxus snorted from where he sat in the biggest leather chair. The large man leaned back, showcasing all his scars and shifting the raccoon tail and feathers attached to the nape of his neck. If ruffled forward and curled. The large brute of a man was probably already starting to get agitated by nothing, as usual. He had gotten off an initial shot towards Reborn's head before the hitman could give the Varia leader Nono's note. Reborn hadn't flinched and neither had Leon at the paltry show of aggression.

To Xanxus's immediate left was Leviathan with all of the man's electric swords attached to his back and wearing all leather. The man's wild hair seemed to have been cut short recently but still stuck out at all odd angles not unlike Tsunayoshi's own mane of hair. To the Varia boss's right was Superbi Squallo. The man looked the same as ever with the exception of a nick in his ear courtesy of Vongola's Rain Guardian. The silver haired Varia was dressed the same as his boss and Leviathan; in other words wearing the leather jacket and pants uniform only recently made. On Squallo's side of the table sat Fran and Lussuria. Both had their hands in their laps looking respectful, but Fran looked more like he was nodding off then really paying attention. Down Leviathan's side sat Belphegor, who wasn't obeying dress code once again, not that anyone really bothered getting him to wear the whole thing anyways. Mostly the self dubbed prince watched Reborn and tossed a knife around in his right hand, still wanting to know if the 'deity' liked cake.

"Ano, Reborn-san?" Fran asked as he shifted the large black frog hat on top of his head further to the left. "Are you sure it wasn't a trick by … say… Mokuro-san?"

A sharp glare from everyone shut him up for his blunt question, a knife just skimming the side of his head making a cut. What he asked was actually nessisary and the Varia knew it would have come up sooner or later. Mukuro, the odd Mist Guardian of Vongola, had been reportedly silent as of late and Chrome hadn't shown hide nor hair of herself either. It wasn't necessarily weird behavior for either of them, but with the Arcobaleno curse taken from one member by a deity, it could have been some stupid trick of his. The whole tale sounded loopy enough for his odd for of entertainment.

"I highly doubt that Mukuro has the ability to remove the Arcobaleno curse so easily; that is if you aren't lying to us, and the curse hasn't been lifted." Mammon spoke up.

The black suited hitman's eyes turned sharp from under the shadow his fedora created and fixed his attention to Mammon. His eyes moved to the origin of the voice, back straight as a washing board and hair frayed out from the back of his fedora. The curly sideburns moved though, just a bit.

"The only reason why I've said anything in front of you is because sooner or later your first Mist counterpart will come nosing into this matter. Tell me, Viper, you can feel it can't you? My missing link in the chain."

A dark hooded infant, no taller then Reborn had been when the curse was still active, stood right in front of the table. Since the moment the Sun Arcobaleno had appeared in Italy, Viper had been on him like a shadow, never letting him out of his sight even up to the meeting with the rest of his Familia. It had been Viper's one and only true goal to reverse the curse on himself and now he was close to an answer with Reborn as living proof no less.

Mammon stilled. It had been a long time since another Arcobaleno had called him by his true name. When they had been one group he had been Viper, not Mammon. Hearing it again from Reborn let him know the Sun holder was very serious. This would undoubtedly have to be a joint mission if what Reborn suggested they had to go up against was real. He didn't like Reborn much but he didn't hold the same extreme dislike for the man _ala Verde_.

Viper put a small finger up to his chin. "Yes I can. It's an empty feeling, like one my mist produces. It's so much more than that though."

The same hand that was on his chin lifted up with the sleeves threatening to swallow them back in. Viper let it hover just above Reborn's suit covered chest feeling the subtle air movements around the wall of muscle and expensive cloth. The Varia watched on with varying faces of interest. Fran perked into attention as he watched his mentor and better use his powers and connections with an adoring face; possibly hoping to glean something. Viper put out his own air of 'I could care less'.

"Here… there is something missing here. Before, when you had the curse, I could feel a link between us. It kept the rest of the Tri-Ni-Set complete, and I can cense the balance has not really changed much, but the link is not where it's supposed to be. It's like there is a screen separating it from the rest of us."

Reborn nodded at the Arcobaleno before him and started from where the other left off.

"Like if you stand from a distance you can't see anything but shadows though the divide, and even if you get close enough you still can't see clearly. Maybe more than before but still distorted. Correct?" Reborn asked, looking at where the hoodie covered Viper's eyes.

"Do you feel anything still?" Viper asked.

Taking a second to collect himself Reborn silently took a deep breath before letting it out, feeling along the filled in hole where the Arcobaleno curse used to sit. His soul felt lighter than before and every time he felt for it deep in him, there was a lingering emotion not his own around the edges.

"I feel the difference in where the curse used to sit, like a circle cut into stone, but nothing more."

Viper nodded, accepting the extra tidbit of information that had been given discreetly. So when the curse was removed something filled it up. Interesting…

"Have you told Colonello about this?" Viper asked after he had paused to think.

"That's a joke right? You and I both know that Colonello would blow Nara Park to pieces and scare off the deity and everything else as well. Then Lal Mirch would catch wind and they would fight. No, the next to be contacted should be Fon. His level headed personality may allow him to directly access the deity."

"Ho?" Lussaria chimed in, his hair waving as he tilted his head and put a hand closer to his mouth in a feminine pose.

Reborn ignored him.

"Yes, the deity seemed…" the hitman searched for the right word. "Skittish. It fled as soon as I started to turn normal. I believe it has an animal that helps it though. A familiar if you will, not unlike what we Arcobaleno posses."

Leon licked one of his eyes as he looked down at Viper and the black frog, Fantasma from his perch on his master's fedora.

"The deer." Leviathan stated, arms crossed in front of his chest.

At that, you could practically see the last thread in Xanxus's patience snap, not that there were every very many to keep together. The Varia had better things to do then entertain this old man, deadly he may be, and go off traipsing around with more deer then he could shake his guns at! Xanxus growled low in his throat, practically vibrating the table his hands gripped. Lussaria shifted up straight in his seat a little and scooted a bit farther form his boss.

The largest man's teeth made an audible impact as he bit out to Reborn what he thought of all the proceedings.

"Spit it out already! What exactly do you want from us? I don't have patience for this anymore. Deer and a deity!? Don't make me laugh!"

Reborn watched Xanxus's hands wondering if the X Guns would be pulled out again. He could already see the Sky Flame igniting in the man's palm. Best get this over with quickly then.

"I only really need Viper, that is if you will allow him to go Xanxus…"

The man's eye twitched.

"That's all!? You waste my time with asking permission!?" The Varia boss had stood up from his chair.

No one moved lest they draw Xanxu's attention to themselves. Generally no one bothered the Varia leader past telling him when he was going to leave and to where. Any of the members could come and go as long as they came back within a day of being called to the Familia.

"No that's not all. I also need one of Leviathan's swords which will come in handy during this search." Reborn calmly replied.

If anyone could see Viper's eyebrows they would have seen one raise all the way up to his hairline.

Leviathan didn't move his body anymore then he had when Reborn came in, the tan skinned man simply shifted his eyes more towards the one in question. There wasn't anymore of a retort from his leader. The lighting specialist did have extra weapons handy. Who didn't in their line of work? However, he wanted something in return for this favor.

"I have a spare you may take but what would you give me?" Levi demanded.

"I thought that would be obvious, you get a cured Arcobaleno on your team, plus Nono says you have to give me one." Reborn grinned. "But I can get you some of his electricity if my theory is correct."

Leviathan huffed as Reborn stated the last sentence of the note Nono, the 9th Vongola, boss had given him. The old man had been happy for Reborn and wished for the rest of the Arcobaleno under Vongola's protection to be cured as well. '_Use any instruments my men possess to aid you_' it read.

"The Deity seems to hold an attribute similar to a Lightning Guardian so using your sword as a lighting rod to attract any attacks is perfect. If you have any objections, please do take it up with Nono."

The hitman smiled cruelly at the Varia and watched as Levi took off one of his prised swords and tossed it at him. The man did not look pleased and glared at Reborn when his hand caught the sword. He pulled it to his side and attached it to his waist via belt loop. Once the Arcobaleno had pocketed his new item he scooped up Viper, balancing the infant and his frog on top of his left shoulder.

"Knowing you lot, I guess you'll be coming later so I'll tell Dame-Tsuna he should be expecting you at Nara Park."

Xanxus simply snorted and raised his X-Gun at Reborn's head. The hitman wasn't phased by the promise of violence.

"Then I'll take my leave. Gentlemen." Reborn bowed mockingly to them knowing that with the note he had superiority over them when it came to politics. "Until then."

When he finally closed the door a shot rang out and shouting started up. He could hear Squallo screaming 'VOOOOOOOOI' every other shot and guessed he was the current target for their leader's tantrum. Xanxus always needed a fight to release his anger since he was practically unable to do it himself. He especially needed it after a meeting with someone like Reborn who completely railroaded him. Viper chuckled from his point on Reborn's shoulder knowing all too well what the inside of the meeting room looked like right then.

"You know they'll be right behind us. A mission hasn't come up for them in a long time and you've offered up a hunt. Something like this will definitely spark a few interests."

Reborn hummed in agreement and turned a corner. He was already anticipating them coming and using their strengths towards capturing the Deity.

"I can get us to Japan faster." Viper said right in Reborn's ear. "I can only image what a day of traveling has done to your nerves and we don't want to lose track of that deity now do we. Honestly I already have a plan to catch it, if you want to try but it does not involve Fon."

Reborn's reply was thought out and said slowly. "I'll consider it."

As the tall man turned another corner, his long legs affording him a quicker speed towards one of the elevators he had used comeing up. He felt freer than he had in decades by simply being able to move long distances and see above various shopping counters by himself. Having longer legs gave him great please. Now if only he could find pleasure in his situation, or at leas some relief from the lead ball in the pit of his stomach. While Reborn had some information on deities in general thanks to the Vongola research department, no one seemed to have anything on this particular deity that didn't, and probably never, had a shrine.

"First, I need to call some more people and have them research gods found around Nara. I'm absolutely positive that's what lives in the grove. We've tried everything else to get rid of this curse, save praying to a god…"

Viper laughed quietly into a covered hand at Reborn's muttering towards the end. The hitman's hand pushed the down button on the nearest elevator door and watched as the numbers at the top lit up signaling the arrival of the elevator itself.

"Now don't forget about Tsunayoshi, Reborn. The impossible always happens around that boy."

"When have I ever been allowed to forget him? He will also come in handy, most likely to fix something he already botched up."

"You can't deny that his future blunder will come in handy though."

Viper's ride nodded in agreement. As the light for their floor lit up the door began making noises while opening smoothly. Inside the elevator right in front of the foreboding pare, a figure stopped and froze in shock, his body guards behind him nearly running into him.

"Mammon? W-uh, Reborn?!"

Both looked at the one speaking and saw Dino Chiavarone, Decimo of the Chiavarone Mafia Famiglia. His corn gold hair was combed to the side instead of its usual lazy flop over his face. While his hair was more stylized and upscale his clothes were the usual punk parka and tan cargo pants. The black furred heck on his jacket ran all he way around the hood's edge and down his chest in two lines segmenting like the yellow and black designs on his chest. The middle was tied together with a zipper and loop buttons which were made of stainless steel. Just under the neckline, Reborn's keen eyes saw the top of a tie and black suit, which blended into the black of the parka. Dino must have just come from a meeting with either Nono or one of the man's ring holders.

"Ah Dino just in time. I have a job for you."

Dino's mouth was open and still looking at Reborn in disbelief. The hitman didn't even let the poor man collect himself before he issued out demands.

"Look up all deities in Nara, Japan, especially around their famous deer park. I need as much information as possible AS SOON as possible. If you don't have something for me by the end of the week then there will be a problem. Understand Dino? Good."

The poor Chiavarone simply closed his mouth a little bit and watched as Reborn continued on his way into the elevator and down to the first floor. His men didn't look any better.

"Was that… was that REBORN?"

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

Sighing softly, a pile of sheets and pillows shifted from one side of the queen sized bed to the other. Light streamed into the decently sized room through the large window carved out above the bed's headboard.

Stretching out completely, Harry turned over once more and sat up with his hair fanning out like a long lion's mane. Sleep still clouded his eyes as he reached for his glasses which were the same beaten up wire frames from first year with the same prescription and fixed nose bridge from Hermione. The raven-haired teen pushed out of his bed now that he was able to see.

Feet dragging and long night shirt trailing out behind him, the Boy-Who-Lived started going through the morning motions mechanically Brush hair, brush teeth, take out clean shirt and boxers, use bathroom, walk into kitchen, take out beacon and some coffee then slowly… ever so slowly, wake up. His stomach felt numb but when the beacon really started sizzling the smell alone made him feel like he could eat an elephant. Three strips of beacon weren't going to do it.

Pushing a hand into the ice chest Harry drew back with five more long strips of meat. Plopping them down right on top of the other three Harry watched with half his mind still drooling in sleep. What happened to being a morning person? He used to be up at the crack of dawn getting breakfast ready and cleaning the house. Then again he had been with the Dursley's and all that stellar energy he had might have been due to self-preservation more then any real desire to be awake. A small itch started at the center of his palm and spiraled outwards, the little needles poked in odd places and stimulated his desire to scratch the unpleasant sensation away. But he resisted.

Some twittering and a little scroll dropping down onto his charcoal black head told Harry he had mail. The little sparrow that had delivered the letter chirped on his shoulder and looked at his with wet, round eyes. The Iesuzume or House Sparrow was a favorite carrier of the Japanese wizarding community because of their unobtrusive size, and the fact they symbolized the retreat of winter and spring's arrival. The fine fellow that was using him as a resting spot had an especially dark brown blotch on his head, which Harry had come to recognize him by. Usually this little Iesuzume requested a small sugared nut that most Japanese wizards kept in their pockets as a reward, much like the mice or bits of meat given to the English post owls. Instead of the customary sugared treat he took a few strands of loose hair from Harry's head, and flew off back to his nest having finally succeeded in his delivery. Harry smile a little and reached for the miniature mail the sparrow had been carrying. Upon touching the scroll it grew out into a letter the size of his palm. On it was a simple sparrow design with no signature and no return address. Despite this he know who had sent it and knew his house was still as safe a secret as it had been yesterday.

Opening up the letter, he saw only a blank page. To anyone else receiving this letter it would have stayed blank since the paper was keyed to his unique magical signature. The drowsy wizard scratched his chest in a sleepy motion and yawned with tears in the corner of both eyes. He rubbed at them and turned the letter over three times, waiting a second to let the action register to the parchment. Turning the letter onto its back one last time Harry saw ink appear and spread out like someone had dropped water onto the page. In elegant hand writing, the same slopes and arks as on his tea sorter, the letter informed him his friends would be coming over tomorrow and could not be dissuaded. No matter how much Harry tried to make them come later they would be there. Harry pushed his hair back out of habit. That was just like his friends, giving him no notice so they could make sure he wasn't hiding anything that may be disastrous later.

He was a bit miffed at their intruding into his business, even if it was well meaning, he could take care of himself. Well since they were coming over he would ask Hermione about de-aging curses and how they affected people. Maybe then he could make sense of what exactly he ate yesterday!

A soft nock made him look up from the letter and out the kitchen door. His body leaned out of the wooden framed kitchen doorway and used one hand on the frame to keep himself from falling. Was someone there? Again, not but two seconds latter, there was another knock at his door. Harry wasn't expecting anyone for another day. So who would be calling on him? None knew his location except for a SELECT few and when he said select he meant the Weasley Clan with Hermionie, the Lovegood Clan, Andromeda with Teddy, and of course Neville – he wasn't quite sure about Malfoy though. Grasping an iron rod from the wood burner next to the electric stove, Harry shuffled out into the hall way and towards his front door. Who could be here at this hour in the morning? Keeping the iron in one hand he reaching out to slide back the lock and open the old Japanese style door.

Someone shrieked in his ear "Harry what are you doing!?" as he swung his weapon around.

Oh, Hermione was way better then Snatchers!

Completely forgetting he had a dangerous weapon in his had, Harry flung his arms wide and glommed onto the bushy haired girl's form. Squeezing her in a hug for all she was worth while she sputtered. One of his best friends was dressed in a light blue blouse with dark brown accents and a brown skirt the same shade as on the coat. Her hair was let down but puffed up from the light breeze outside. A section of her tresses had been braided off and tied in the back with a flower sticking out, its pail blue color drawing attention to it.

Some shuffling from behind her presented Neville dressed in a black cardigan with ivy leaves sown onto the collar. Underneath was a plain white button up shirt with matt black tie. His pants were pitch black as well and he sported a pair of brand new onyx vans, which were also trimmed in verdant colored ivy.

"Hi ya Harry." The shy boy said as he waved at the figure attached to the bushy haired girl.

Finally releasing Hermione Harry started over to Neville - who looked nervous with him waving the poker around- and enveloped him in a hug, or at least tried too. While Hermione was more his height, Neville was a head and shoulders taller than him at age nineteen. It just looked like Harry was hugging a very soft pole that was chuckling nervously and tinged a bit pink in embarrassment.

Stepping back, Harry looked Neville in the eyes. "Not that I'm not happy to see you guys but, what are you doing here so early? I thought you were coming tomorrow?"

Hermione shifted her baby blue bottomless bag from one hand to the other as she fished for a comb. She looked at him reproachfully for his statement as she dug around. The clear beads closing the pouch clinked together and reminded Harry of something he couldn't remember what at the moment. Hermione's hair was even more ruffled then before thanks to her over enthusiastic friend so a few runs would be needed.

"Harry, this is the 23rd. We sent you a note and everything." She mumbled distractedly as her hand found the comb she was looking for.

Pulling the purple plastic out she did a few quick swipes to tame everything again. Harry turned his head, as did Neville when she spoke.

"What? That can't be right. Yesterday was the 21st! I should know, the ticket stubs at Nara Park said so." Harry said, waving his hands around a little.

Vanishing her comb back into the bag Hermione reached down to her side and whipped out a vine wand. With a flick of her wrist, the young witch displayed her talent in wordless magic and a small jet of red shot out of her wand. The light twisted and joined in parts forming letters and numbers, more specifically a date.

"Do you see now? Honestly Harry, do you want me to get you a muggle calendar? You can't keep using the ticket stubs from Nara." She said good naturedly, a bit puzzle but otherwise not worried at the regular Harry behavior.

"But… that would mean I've been asleep for, essentially, two days!"

Hermione and Neville looked at Harry as he looked towards the sun in confusion. Mione's hand lifted to check his forehead worrying for a second that he was delusional from sickness, but Neville shifted in front of her and looked back down the hallway Harry came from.

"Harry… is something burning?" Neville asked, voice a bit quieter than before.

Both Hermione and Neville watched as Harry fled down the hallway and into the smoking kitchen. They looked at each other and share a chuckled before following their friend into his house. They were both a little tense going over the threshold and made sure to scuff their shoes on the door matt.

Like a wave running along every available surface, starting from where they set their feet into the building, the inside of the beautiful house began to rot. Paneling was eaten away by termites in fast forward, holes appeared in the sealing and grass began to grow from where the light touched the exposed earth. The bright coloring painted on various vases and detailed panel work turned to faded gray and the more delicate material fell inwards like ash or dust; and that was only looking down the hallway. They both knew that the effect would completely envelop the building giving it an otherworldly air. The whole entire compound changed from the pristine atmosphere into one of decaying buildings. This was one of the natural defense mechanism for Kashamiryu castle. The point was to discourage thieves from entering and masked the true beauty and treasures inside.

Hermione rubbed her arms to get ride of the sudden cold winding down the hallway "I don't think I'll ever get used to that. It's like watching death approaching."

From down the hallway shouting could be heard as smoke billowed out from the kitchen's shoji entrance. Somewhat at home with the house's sudden change, the witch and wizard made their way past snagging vines and dazed moths to their friend in the kitchen. Harry distractedly motioned at them to sit on the rotting table and chairs as he waved his other hand towards the sink. Grabbing a bucket, Harry filled it with water from the tap completely missing that it held a muddy quality to it, and doused the fire fueled by grease, fat, and meat.

Hermione and Neville both cringed as the disgusting water washed over the electrical appliance and the newly charcoaled bacon strips that were to be The-Boy-Who-Lived's breakfast.

'Not anymore' Neville thought.

After some swearing, some clean up charms and half of the water scourgafied Harry sat down with his friends at the table.

"Sorry about that guys." Harry intoned as he picked at the rotting table. "Looks like I can't get you anything for a while. The stove is most definitely out." His thumb jerked backwards at the still hissing skillet "Guess I should say 'welcome to my home' right?"

As if by command another rippling effect flowered out from under Harry's chair. The house changed from its decrepit status back to its former luster bringing with it the true warmth from the kitchen washing in. As the chairs fixed themselves their occupants were bumped up and down in the process. A small pop like a bubble dieing signaled the end of the transformation back into the household it was supposed to be. Neville looked at the table and mumbled his astonishment about the defense mechanisms of the castle.

"So," Started Hermione in the silence after the restoration. "Besides what just happened in the kitchen, how have you been?"

Harry chucked nervously. "Well there was an interesting meeting with a few kids when I was in my animagus form but other then that nothing new."

Neville leaned forwards a bit, resting his arms along the table and put in his own question.

"What about the tea herbs I gave you? Are they good?"

The raven haired boy turned a smile at this normally patient friend and recounted that he had had a stomachache from the other, ah, two days ago, and he had take some of his friend's chamomile leaves and buds. They had cured him up in no time and he had the best nights sleep so far.

"But you said you've been asleep for two days Harry. I know for a fact that chamomile isn't THAT relaxing so what caused this?"

Sweat dripped down by his ear in nervousness. Now how to avoid this…

"Well… I guess I was really exhausted from running around at Nara. There were more school kids there that day and Bruno was bothering some of them. I got in the way and had a bit of a fight with him, that's all. But hay! You're always telling me I need to get more exercise so I don't get fat!" He lied cheerfully, hoping that Hermione didn't catch on. Thankfully she didn't notice.

"I didn't mean it that way!" Hermione looked a bit affronted that her efforts in keeping her friend from gaining too much weight had been taken the wrong way. Neville just rested his head in the palm of his left hand watching as they bantered.

"Anyone for coffee? Tea?" Neville asked as the two before him started off on all the odd fads muggle girls and witches had for losing weight fast.

The friends nodded their heads at coffee and thus Neville went to go find a pot and the coffee tin to make drinks for everyone. The small amount of noise the taller boy made, created a soft background noise similar to a coffee shop at night. Making the drinks without the full use of the stove wasn't hard with a bit of repair magic and manipulating the heat around his hand. The shy Griffendor zoned out on the first part of his friend's conversation as he prepared.

"..and keeping youthful!" Hermione said with enthusiasm and a bit of eye rolling the rest of her conversation lost on Neville as he worked.

"You mean like having skin 'as soft as a baby's bottom'?" Harry snickered, eyes watering with mirth at the ridiculous saying.

"Many people have tried creating a charm or item to keep them youthful forever, and many have failed because as you know our bodies are constantly growing, but at some point we begin to constantly die. Our hair falls out, skin gets lose, we lose the ability to eat since our teeth fall out—"

Harry cut the air in front of Hermione with his hand to stop her. He was about to have his first food of the day! He didn't want to hear about how his squishy insides would turn to mush and dust as time went on. Worm food even… At that moment Neville came back with two magically heated mugs of black coffee and a lemon grass tea for himself. The ability to brew tea and coffee came faster due to Nevilles access to magic and his understanding of plants. It also didn't hurt that he didn't need a stove.

"Yes, well, as you know, the only one to remotely succeed in creating eternal youth was Nicolas Flamel but he created a potion not a charm or curse. Also, as you should remember, the Elixir of Life granted immortality not youth specifically. If someone 30 years old took it they would stay 30 years old. If someone took it and he or she were 100 years old they would stay 100 years old. I'm guessing that a lot of the elixir's ingredients have to be agents the body can use for repairing itself or keeping itself in a state of stasis." Hermione explained going to professor mode.

In the back of his head, Harry groaned in dismay. It sounded like there were a lot of undocumented tries by witches and wizards to obtain eternal youth. There was no way he could shift through that many experimental items and charms by himself. In the end one of them had worked a little to well.

"So there are possibly innumerable attempts over the centuries and all were duds?" Harry asked dreading a confirmation to his suspicions.

"Yes and they almost always went terribly wrong. The first person to ever try attaining youth was a witch named Medusa. She, like her mythical counter part, could turn a person to stone by just looking at them, but that wasn't because a god cursed her, oh no. It was because she had dabbled with a de-ageing charm that instead made her gaze literally freeze others in their current age, never to grow older or grow younger."

Harry's eyes lit up at the key word 'de-aging'. "What about, say turning a person into an infant, or something, not frozen in stone but more like unable to age ever again." Harry asked awkwardly, trying to be discreet.

Hermione chewed that over for a second in her head, honestly happy to have something to think hard about.

"Yes well, they would lose their memory since more developed thought would be impossible for an infant. Even if they obtained the means to stay an infant one year into their life they would still lose whatever sensory memory they had from that one year. Usually, the whole point in attaining eternal youth is to retain your personality and memories as well as keep yourself alive for as long as possible. It would truly be a curse to stay an infant forever." The bushy haired witch finished and Neville nodded his head in total agreement.

The darkly dressed herbologist seemed to shiver and he clutched his lemon grass tea tighter.

"Imagine, forever a young infant, unable to do anything for yourself, never to find someone to love you and have a family with. Watching as everyone else dies and leaves you behind. Flamel gave the Elixir of Eternal Life to his wife so he wouldn't be alone as the world changed and left him behind, right? For all the experiences we've had in the war, I wouldn't trade that for anything because I knew I was growing up. Too bad Voldemort didn't see it that way, he wanted to defeat death and deny it for as long as he could. He wasted his life for nothing in the end." Neville whispered.

Harry gazed at his friends under half lidded eyes, a thoughtful expression on his face as he listened to the wisdom. It would truly be agony having that happen to you. Thinking back to the fedora-wearing infant he had cured from the de-aging curse, he wondered how the man was doing. Were there others like him? Was he happy he no longer was so young? Had he liked being that way? No… somehow he knew the man wanted to be back to his original form. Somehow he knew the man took pride in how accomplished his body had been and if those scars were any indication, even in infant form he still worked. The man had used his life to the fullest in some fashion or another and it looked like a dangerous life too, but it must have been one he drove himself to be the best in.

"Hermione… what about de-ag-" Harry started but was cut off by a squeak from his friend across the table.

Hermione mumbled something about, never going to get used to these things, and stood up from the repaired chair. Both teens watched in fascination as she chugged the black coffee right down to it's grainy dredges and slapped the mug onto the table like she was at a bar.

"Speaking of babies! My earrings have heated up. Looks like Ron's having a hard time calming our little one done. Sorry about this Harry, I had quite a bit planned out for us three." She breathed out exasperated at her time off was cut short. It's not easy being a mother and an exceptionally young professor.

Neville nodded at her in understanding and said they could save everything for another day, while Harry looked between the two suspicious about what they had been going to do. He watched as his herbologist friend got up as well and hugged him, telling him that next time they would really have a fun time and not just a short visit. Harry guessed that what they had planned must be done with all three of them. He didn't mind them leaving so soon, his life was relaxed now and he knew they wouldn't be away for more than a week.

"I would stay but you should appear at Nara Park since our plans were ruined. If you've been gone for a whole day then I'm sure that one of the park rangers will be looking for you right now. Don't want them to get too worried now do you?"

Good old Neville. Thinking three steps ahead, even if they were small ones.

"Right." He replied and nodded his head at Hermione who was already out the door and waiting for Neville so they could travel back to their apparating point just outside Harry's gates.

The trees parted and shifted aside as if they had minds of their own and legs to move. They allowed Hermione access back to the gate and held their position in waiting for the other to travel past. As Neville finally trotted out into the trees and right to Hermione's side they waved back at their friend, silently promising that they would steal him away from his reclusive life in the next few weeks. They could always send Luna in the mean time.

With the ornate gate closed and the trees bending back in place to hide the path they had created from the front door, both Griffindors disappeared.

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

Extra: Before Reborn talks to Viper

The skylark hadn't been amused when everyone filed off the bus pushing and shoving like a pack of escaping wildebeest. He hadn't been amused when they had knocked down a vase in the lobby causing the teacher to apologize profusely and promise to pay for it. He hadn't been amused when he finally got some much-needed sleep only to be pushed off his seat by a fat brat from an English couple – they looked more like animals than the school herbivores he guarded, disgusting. Now looking around at the veritable feast provided for the school…

Hibari was still not amused. Everyone would say that fact would probably never change.

Ever.

But he wasn't amused for a bigger issue this time. The pathetic herbivore and his herd were supposed to be at lunch like the rest of the herbivores he had to watch over on their blasted school trip, but they weren't. Flu or no flu he was going to do his job and that meant fetching the little rats down from their hotel rooms with his fever of 100.1.

Oh all things the lot of them weren't there either.

His cold made his sneeze at the perfume in one of the rooms occupied by the boys which… confused him a great deal because why was there perfume in a boy's room?

Whatever. He'd bite to death whoever was stinking of TokyoMilk No. 83*

/++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++/

*This is an actual perfume. I love the brand TokyoMilk and No. 10 is called Everything & Nothing (which is actually currently out of stock on the website). I think the perfume name fits in rather well for this chapter and I feel maybe I could have used it in some other way. Here's seeing if I do or not in later chapters. ;3

Note: I edited the first two chapters and there is a bit of new content in there.


	4. Finito (Last Update)

**Update 4/25/14 ATTENTIONE! NO MORE UPDATES! + 1 WHOLE CHAPTER**

Sorry ladies and gentlemen but I have given up the goose. The following is what I have been working on. There is one whole chapter and a few bites of what were to be future chapters. Someone else HAS picked this story up, although it is going to take a definite turn in another direction. When that person posts their continuation I link it into a new update.

Thanks to everyone who has liked this story and watched me for years. I am deeply sorry that my steam for this story ran out short. Maybe in the future I will post more stories. In the mean time, please, read what's left of Bambino at your leasure.

**Timeline:**

x-Still the day Reborn left Tsuna instructions then moves on to evening

x-Tells Dino etc he needs info on deities (fast)

x- Goes to sleep

**-Next day** Harry and his letter + gets attacked w/ Reborn's plan

-Reborn's plan = give offering è draws out deity via familiar è stun using Hibari's cuffs + Tsuna's will + Vipers Mist – gets messed up because of Harry's immunities to Mist.

**Old responses to comments** (they were **good questions/comments**) :

XxAlysxX: I'm glad I didn't disappoint you! Considering how long it took me to do that chapter… I think I'd cry if it did W;

Ink Scars: First off cool name. Also, WOW! I hope that I posed this chapter soon enough! Even though I didn't post it the same day as Partito. You also seem to understand where all of this is headed but it's not ALL that's going to go down. Ya… This is turning into a longer monster than I had anticipated.

Frostfire613: Aaaaah good question! It's going to be more puppy love "Hibari version"/Hibari is able to tolerate Neville and care about him (cause Hibari is 16 and I'm not into writing underage.) Also this is before Hanna Abbot or Neville get together. I don't think it's ever mentioned that they were going out at Hogwarts. She was in Hufflepuff and never really talked to him (but was in DA with him). I'm going to treat her pretty much the same way I'm going to treat Ginny.

purehearts22: Sorry this didn't get to you same day. ;w; I needed to fight with this fight scene!

Guest: Hello there Guest. The mention of memory loss is only in conjunction to wizarding curses and spells. The Arcobaleno curse and the Flame Wills are similar to the magic Harry and co use but different at the same time. It's part of the reason for his indigestion. Think of it as another branch of magic that isn't as easy to bring out, control, or detect. Also I guess you could think of it as Death Eater Marks in pacifier form. XD

UniCryin: Good lord more good questions. People stop reading my mind! Ahem, anyway. As for those glasses they aren't a problem yet because no one besides Harry's friends has seen his human face clearly. They will be traded out for contact lenses or eye correction potion later. None of the KHR characters will see him in full for a while anyways. As for the riches, ya he's got gold but I think due to Harry's upbringing he could have gone one of two ways; extravagant spender, or rather simple living with comfort spending. I've decided to go with the more humble!Harry.

droga1: I have severely screwed around with the time line but it's after the Final Future Arc. That marshmallow eating, flashy bird may or may not make an appearance. Byakuran is kind of a godmode for this story, as far as I'm concerned, and we only need ONE god in here.

Mabidiso: I really enjoyed writing Kashamiryu's defenses. The idea started out with the castle being like that all the time only with a muggle repulsion spell. But that was so BORING! I had to do more! I liked the idea of Hogwarts being semi-sentient so I put something similar in.

Janelly Slytherin: That was originally what happens after Tsuna and Gokudera get off the buss. So Hibari became an Omake for a bit. XD

Last time:

The trees parted and shifted aside as if they had minds of their own and legs to move. They allowed Hermione access back to the gate and held their position in waiting for the other to travel past. As Neville finally trotted out into the trees and right to Hermione's side they waved back at their friend, silently promising that they would steal him away from his reclusive life in the next few weeks. They could always send Luna in the mean time.

With the ornate gate closed and the trees bending back in place to hide the path they had created from the front door, both Griffindors disappeared.

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

Blackened fingernails combed through silver hair as bits of debris were brushed off. The rings on either hand caught on locks every once and a while, ripping out strands. Despite looking like a mess Gokudera wasn't to disappointed with himself. The fact he had actually fended off Hibari while carrying Tsuna was impressive if he did say so himself. It would have been even more impressive if he hadn't let Tsuna get knocked out in the first place.

Leaning on his back was his nearly unconscious Juudaime. His leader's head kept lolling to one side and his legs looked strung out across the sheets oddly. They were both on one of the newly made hotel beds trying to gather themselves up again. The day had started off ok and preceded to be incident free up until 10 o-clock but after that it got rocky. Hibari finally snapped under the pressure of his cold and their disappearance the day before. Long story short they got beat up and sent to their rooms for the remainder of the day. Tomorrow they would be back on the busses and heading to Naminori prefecture.

Gokudera glanced over his shoulder to see how Tsunayoshi was doing. The younger boy seemed to be doing fine with minimal cuts and a lump forming on the back of his head. The damn skylark had ambushed Yamamoto when Gokudera got distracted by the 10th and took him down first. The brunet had been so happy at the time that he couldn't help but feel happy himself, thus his guard dropped. Then BAM! There was the prefect right in everyone's faces. This was not how he imagined their final day at Nara to end but at least his Famiglia would be going back to familiar territory.

"Yo Gokudera. Stop day dreaming about Dame-Tsuna in that little head of yours."

Gokudera tried not to jump up and flick out a bomb at the unfamiliar figure standing in his personal space. Tsuna on the other hand seemed to take it harder, he turned around and stared at Reborn with glassy eyes and then fell sideways with a whoomph.

"Oh my head…"

Reborn crossed his arms in front of his chest in annoyance.

"And here I thought I was finally getting somewhere with you."

"You were-I mean am- I… you are!"

"Don't hurt yourself Dame-Tsuna because I actually have some training for you."

"You do?" Tsuna gulped.

"Yes, get your Famiglia together. We're going to go catch a deer."

"No no Reborn! If you kill any of the sacred deer-"

"I'm not going to kill any worthless deer. As if I'd waste my time on such boring game. The prize I want to bag is much more sacred than those useless creatures."

Tsunayoshi was understandably doubtful. Reborn just didn't think in a linear line half the time and the other half was so blunt you couldn't take it seriously.

"Don't give me that look no good Tsuna. I want my prize alive."

After finishing off his last cup of coffee, Harry decided he would take Neville's advice and go to Nara Park. He had debated for a short time on whether or not going there would be wise. If that man remembered anything form their encounter then he may be waiting for his deer form to return. Then again Mr. Curly Sideburns had been out cold when he changed back. It was probably safe to at least hang around his grove of trees.

According to the old gear clock he had placed by his bedside, it was about 12:03 in the afternoon. So his plans for eating bacon at breakfast time would have actually been eating bacon at lunchtime. And here he thought it had been a bright morning all along. Harry lightly snickered at himself for that one and then promptly slapped his hand' over his mouth.

Well either way he was going to eat later since he didn't feel like burning anything again. Harry had never burned bacon before for fear of physical punishment and no food for the rest of the day. When Neville had mentioned there was smoke the raven-haired teen had flashed back to his first cooking experience at the Dursleys'. He had only been five but when pain is involved little kids rarely forget, point in case when Voldemort had cast the curse at him. He had only remembered the sickly green light that made up the Avada Kedavra but it was more then most people remembered from a year old.

When he got his first cooking lesson Aunt Patunia had woken him up early to make a big breakfast for Dudley's first school fieldtrip. He hadn't been allowed near the kitchen appliances before, yet his Aunt had said Harry watched her enough when he was smaller so he should know. Only a stupid brat wouldn't be able to grasp simple cooking after watching her do it countless times for his sorry…

Harry blinked his eyes to get rid of the image before them.

No, he couldn't let his thoughts get dark. They had no part of his life anymore and certainly would get no money or fame from him. To this day they had no idea what connections and influence he had or what riches were saved up in his vaults from his parent's and Sirius's will. He held that with satisfaction over their narrow minded little heads in secret and while it may seem petty it was worth it.

Absently Harry rubbed the spiral burn mark on his wrist and part of his palm; the same hand that displayed the white words 'I must not tell lies' in his old hand writing. The letters had healed and sunk into his skin instead of puffed out like other scars he had accumulated. The faintest tinge of sickly purple and black surrounded the edges of the letters and followed the natural lines and grooves on his skin. Madam Pomfrey guessed it was the tainted black magic from meeting Voldemort again seeping into the still healing wounds.

Quickly dressing in a white under yukata with red trim and black stitching, Harry slipped into a white topcoat yukata with small black markings similar to his former owl's wings. Again the weather was nice and the yukata felt wonderful for the temperature. Stepping outside and adjusting his clothes Harry pressed on the blue jewel imbedded in his silver bracelet and portkeyed to Nara.

Appearing back to the grove in the middle of Nara Park, Harry placed a hand on the bracelet to hide the glow it made as it deactivated. He had to wait for the residual magic to die down in order to let his animal side transform his shape since it didn't mesh well with the portkey's influence. It didn't seem to mind when it sunk into his skin to hide from sight.

Once the last wisp of transportation magic had dissipated he shifted into a stag befitting a king's trophy wall. After checking himself over for any human attributes still showing, Harry trotted out to the crowd of deer and humans. There were less people here then two days ago. More deer seemed to be sleeping in the shade and drinking from the pond than out in the open. This left large gaps in-between the groups where humans could talk and walk without getting tugged on or badgered for long distances. The sun beamed down brighter by the second and Harry was tempted to turn back aground and go home since his black pelt would absorb more heat then he could take. He would at least stay for a little while though. As long as one or two of the park rangers saw him at Nara he could go back home without worrying to much.

Making his way towards one of the ranger stations on the other side of the park, Harry searched out Tobaiyasu; a slightly rebellious looking twenty year old whom always put on the sleeveless vest uniform over a green shirt with white long sleeves. While he wasn't necessarily your upstanding citizen, often literally punching and kicking offenders out of Nara Park, he was very gentle with animals. He had tan skin from being outside for too long and surprisingly clear brown eyes. His dark cocoa hair reached just past his shoulders and was cut oddly at different layers. Usually the wavy hair would have been tied up into a small ponytail but it seemed to have snapped today.

'_He probably used the plastic rubber bands again._'

The man had shown up on Nara's staff before Harry had made his home in Japan and it had been Tobaiyasu who spotted Harry's black form first among the other deer. As rumor had it, he belonged to the Yakuza, or something, and had a fight with some of the members. Getting rid of his last name and never taking on another told others he had no clan or anyone he considered trustworthy enough to be his family. Harry guessed that like himself, Tobaiyasu was hiding from his old life, hoping to make a better one here in Nara.

The path Harry took winded right past where the busses on the south side would stop to unload passengers and for a second, Harry wondered what had happened to that Haru girl. He had completely forgotten her and his assumptions of the situation before removing the curse. Now he knew she was no mother and probably a family friend or maybe a daughter of Mr. Curly Sideburns. The Haru girl must have gone back to her school tour group and left. Hopefully she had met back up with the man and hadn't worried too much. Raising his head towards the flags that stood on poles embedded in the concrete, Harry wondered if that Haru girl had known anything about the curse surrounding the baby on her shoulder. Surely she had.

Unbeknownst to Harry, Tobaiyasu was heading straight for him, finger raised in accusation.

"YOU! Where have you been Blacky?"

That caught the attention of a few patrons passing by on their way from the ticket booths. The group of girls among them lifted their hands to their faces, pressed closer together, and giggled as un-quietly as possible. True to his nature, Tobaiyasu flipped them the bird without looking back and continued straight for the black fallow deer. The shocked faces the girls made were amusing and Harry let out a deer chuckle. Apparently, Tobaiyasu wanted to get a hold of Harry for something or other, probably for a check up, as the man made a grab for one of his white horns. Backing up in time, Harry kept his head just out of reach from the larger man and thought of it more as good exercise. Tobaiyasu would lunge forwards right when Harry did a few trots backwards, completely either unaware Harry could gouge his face off if he so pleased or just didn't give a damn.

"Come here, I just want to get you out of the sun and into the building. You'll overheat and die!" The man grunted, blowing some hair out of his face as he made to grab at Harry's horns again.

The building was actually more like an enclosed pen with smaller horse like stalls for sick deer. It was shady and air conditioned with most of the staff members milling about on their time off.

'_Sorry Tobaiyasu! No can do!_'

Feeling like his pursuer was too close, Harry bolted back towards the center of the park listening to Tobaiyasu give out a 'HEY!' before disappearing around the corner. Tobaiyasu would definitely report he had seen him and probably complain to anyone within earshot that he was going to grab the black buck and drag him wherever he pleased next time. Harry saw it as an empty threat at best.

Little did Harry know, someone else had also spotted him running around and had watched everything from one of the trees. A small figure was completely hidden in the thick foliage grown by the plants in the spring and summer time. Seeing Harry disappear around the corner the small figure vanished in a slice of grayish, purple mist.

Pushing back a bush to let himself slip through, Harry walked through a thicket of some trees which hid a path winding and cutting though it. The faded red brick path ran clear through the park from one end to the other, escorting visitors for a nice walk and guiding Harry right back to his grove of trees. The little blue flowers on some of the brush were blooming a pale pastel color like the flower that had been in Hermione's hair. They contrasted nicely with the slightly bluish green coloring of the leaves and the warm greens and browns of the trees.

Stopping for a second, the black fallow deer admired the small transformation of his grove from two days ago, breathing in the clean, crisp oxygen given back by the trees. He vaguely wondered why he hadn't noticed buds on the bushes earlier. Plants generally didn't grow that fast if you discounted any magical ones. So what was going on? Must be super growth mulch or something. But as he continued to stand there Harry missed a cold, oddly moving thing behind him. This thing twirled and stretched seemingly out of nowhere and wrapped around people and deer behind him. It wasn't until the living souls began to move away did the wizard notice what was going on and turned.

The cold curling thing behind him turned out to be a mist so oddly thick it reminded Harry of his home, England. At first it acted like a snake and was only forming disjointed tendrils branching out form some source farther off, then it rose up, like someone had pulled a curtain cord. Once in the air the mist leaked out of its form and blanketed around the place like real mist. Harry watched as the stuff floated along the ground and swallowed people whole like a giant mouth. Strands of the clinging air tugged at peoples clothing and lead them away from the area around his grove of trees. He looked back and forth at the people and deer leaving in alarm.

'_What is this? Some sort of magic_?' He whispered inside as he continued to watch people and animals stiffly walk away from him.

Breathing in the young wizard swallowed what essence gathered in his mouth from the action. The stuff tasted **fake**, almost like he was eating cotton swabs and as it clotted in his throat the essence dragged weariness with it. As it hit Harry's stomach he began to feel something try to invade his mind, which was odd because he wasn't meeting anyone's eyes. Instantly, occlumency walls erected themselves in self-defense, trying to keep the memories and thoughts of its owner safe and secure. In his minds eye they were made of solid marble with tempered steel ribbing held together with reinforced bolts. It wasn't pretty but it held together surprisingly well against whatever was attacking. The charcoal colored deer's sheer will to stay in control of his own body kicked the effects from the mist into neutral much like when the imperious curse and cruciatus curse tried to affect him. As his body processed the odd 'magic' Harry felt a bit light headed like he was drugged and he knew his body was pushing a layer of magic over his body in defiance. This was something not of the mind but a physical effect, thus his occlumency walls were useless against its influence, but his will power was not.

It would seem years of being paranoid and fighting was paying off again.

Slowly and with slightly unsteady hoofs Harry backed up a few steps towards the grove, his rump hidden by the bushes and trees. If he needed to, the privacy of the grove would afford him a quick chance to escape home. It was without a doubt, someone from the wizarding community has found him and was either trying to corner him for capture or to talk. How they had managed to locate him he didn't know but he wasn't going to stay long enough to find out. Weeks and weeks had gone into planning his hidden life in Japan but just as many had been used to ensure his escape.

Right in front of the wizard and to the right a light flared and caused what he thought to be the silhouette of a head in the mist. Ears shot straight up and his back went ridged as well as his legs, all in preparation to flee. The light felt like magic with a different 'flavor' to it. It was concentrated so finely Harry was sure a wand was trained on him. Damn! So they knew his animagus form as well then! The figure in the mist shifted forward a bit and Harry noted that the head bobbed up and down lightly, almost like a bird's head does. As the figure got closer he heard it give out a breath that disturbed the water vapor.

"I see you aren't effected by my mist."

The voice was slightly high pitched and sounded sophisticated. The person didn't talk as fast as most of the other Japanese people Harry had been around and each piece of the sentence was spoken clearly. As the figure's voice carried to him the mist parted like a stage curtain allowing Harry to see…A FLOATING BABY!?

Harry's posture sagged in disbelief, little deer mouth gapping open. What he thought was a head moving in the mist, bobbing up and down, was actually another weird child.

'_Oh for the love of god, really? REALLY!?_' Harry complained in his head.

First a baby wearing a fedora, now a baby wearing a black leather jacket with an off white ouroboros floating over his head… and the baby was floating as well. The leather jacket had two white stripes going down that blended in with the grayish murky quality of the mist still coating everything. A small zipper, obviously custom made for the baby as it was too small for even Harry's slim fingers to grab, was placed neatly down the middle. The baby himself had pale skin akin to someone who got absolutely no sun and covered up every inch even when it was 102 degrees outside. On either pudgy cheek was a tattooed teardrop colored a deep amethyst and Harry hoped it wasn't because he had killed someone or lost a loved one either*. The kid didn't wear any jewelry but had a lavender colored pacifier tied around his neck with a cord Harry couldn't see.

"How amusing. Usually animals are weak minded against my mist. You must really be something special. I can see why he _thinks_ you're a familiar for a god."

Harry's frantic mind tripped over itself.

'_Huh … I.. what … hng …Wah? Deity?_'

A light bulb went on in his head. The baby thought he was a deity's familiar! This at least was good. If he didn't have a role to play right then he would have sighted in relief, instead he straightened his posture as minutely as possible and kept only his head turned to the baby. He tried to look as regal as he did before and hoped that the infant hadn't seen him looking less then dignified.

Often time Japanese deities had an animal or item associated with them, sometimes several all at once. Shrines erected for a deity had those items placed inside as decorations or holy relics and was sometimes carved into the vary wood of the shrine. A well known deity, Inari Ōkami, was often represented by rice and foxes, two things the 'kami' ruled over. The god itself could be shown in human form as male, female, or androgynous so it was the items they represented that would often times show who they were in artwork. Animals in particular were seen as messengers to the 'kami', relaying prayers from those that worshipped them and were respected, plus with all the sacred deer in Nara Park it was no wonder someone though there was a deity living there.

'Not to mention I don't dress like a modern day Englishman anymore. Then again…I never did before either. Well, it looks like someone spotted me and the 'I'm a deity' thing really worked. Thank you, Luna!' Harry thought, remembering the starry eyed girl's invaluable help with picking his wardrobe.

Viper on the other hand watched as the deer made minute shifts in its posture obviously gauging him. He acquiesced to Reborn's earlier observations and felt the hitman's words replay in his head, only worrying a bit that the illusion part of their plan couldn't be pulled off. The deer did hold intelligence border lining on human, which was usually seen in only animals with more developed and larger brains. It had reacted not unlike a skilled human fighter might if they were backed up into a corner or weary of a new situation, automatically placing its back against a familiar place where he could hide, while at the same time keeping his front and all five senses before him. The area was an open space less secure and less well known and to a tactician that was a liability enemies could definitely exploit. After doing that the deer had looked around with only its eyes, keeping everything else still and primed for immediate action. He could see the muscles of the black fallow deer's legs strung tight as a bow.

The creature itself was beautiful and the lavender Arcobaleno found himself calculation just how much each body part of the rare black creature would get him before he could stop himself. The head alone would fetch a fortune to satisfy him for a long time and then the pelt, even more so. It was glossy with just enough shine to reflect the light around it and well groomed as well. The white and cream markings also reflected light but it reflected the grass and the trees with just a bit of blue from the sky more then anything else. Definitely a one of a kind animal and anything one of a kind with this quality could make a poor man very, very rich.

Viper almost cleared his throat but didn't want to spook the 'deity's familiar' any more then before. He wanted to get the curse off as fast as possible and capture the cure.

"I felt the presence of your master. I realized it was the power of a deity and so I have prepared an offering, as is proper." Viper said keeping his voice natural even though the line had been rehearsed with Reborn earlier.

Watching the familiar the Mist Arcobaleno put both his hands in the air, palms out to the obsidian fallow. Viper slowly gathered threads of his mist and wove them together to create an object that would be the offering. Slowly and with much care, a small chest was created. It would have had to rest in both of Viper's small, pale, chubby palms if a display wasn't already starting to form underneath the chest.

The container looked to be made out of healthy cedar wood and the smell from it was light on the pallet but strong enough to drown out some other natural smells like that of the grass. On all four corners of the box there was thick gold facets spread out to envelop all the four corners. Small intricate designs were carved into the simple metal and interesting shadows played in the grooves. There was a glass top to it, exposing the round piece that held the scroll with raised bumps carefully carved on jade handles. The offering itself was placed on a wooden tray with a bowl of rice as well as a full saucer of sake and sake bottle. Lacquer chopsticks were placed on a clay figurine of a deer that looked similar to the black fallow familiar but with blue highlights on its horns, eyes, and legs.

Fantasma, Viper's black frog who was now transformed into his white newt form, lifted his owner a bit higher in the air and away from the deer's reach. He helped his master concentrate on the illusions playing out in the other deer and human's minds as well as the mist. The sheer power his master Viper had to exude was a testament to his continued position in the Varia, who ruthlessly weeded out the weaker members. He would keep the deer away from his master. Fantasma watched as the black creature finally moved a part of its body; the ear twitching towards the plants as if listening to a command unheard by either himself or his master.

Harry simply stood thinking deeply on what to do now. Obviously this person though he was a familiar, so he had to act as if there was a higher power over him, which oddly enough would be himself. He was going to need magic for this, mostly charms, but it should be enough to fool the baby for a second or two. He was too similar to the other infant a few days ago but couldn't know for sure. The most discerning attribute between the two was the pacifier around their necks. The first had a pacifier tinged a bright orange while this one a pale lavender. Age was another common factor, as well as their ability to speak clearly and with an older sophistication. The only difference was their smell. The one before him had no sent what-so-ever which was very odd to his deer form, while the other had smelled something awful. He could get closer if he made for the display put out before him, but the other sent had been so strong even at a distance… something must be covering it up.

Now… how to accept the offering?

Rising one black cloven hoof forwards, Harry made for the floating offering tray held out by a levitation charm. He tried breathing in the baby's sent but only got a snout full of cedar wood. He would simply play the part of a good little animal up a notch then. Ears twisted forwards even further and eyes pushed wider in innocence; Harry leaned out his long neck to just barely touch the wooden tray with the tip of his cold, wet nose. That last bit of covered distance seemed to do the trick. The raven colored wizard's animal instincts reacted before he could think on it and he froze to monitor the dangerous sent on the wind. Instead of the rotting meat and old parchment smell of the last curse this one smelt more like mire water and sludge, but the tone of magic in it was exactly the same. This child had the same de-aging curse despite the overlaying displace of scents that might suggest otherwise. Someone had actually bothered to hide the curse disguised as another curse. This unknown person must really hate whoever these people were.

Were they being punished for something horrible?

Did it matter in the end?

This was not justice. After all, they weren't imprisoned and answering for their crimes. The memory of Neville's earlier words rang in his head, the same depressing tone carrying through.

_"Imagine, forever a young infant, unable to do anything for yourself, never to find someone to love you and have a family with. Watching as everyone else dies and leaves you behind…"_

'**_Leaves you…_**'

It really would be a tragedy and Harry thought of the last piece of Voldemort's soul sleeping in fitful pain under the white stone bench in his mind. He had felt pity for the creature huddled under there, covered in blood and severely malnourished with no clothes on or blanket to keep even remotely warm by. Even though he knew what lay there was a piece of his parent's murderer, it still looked and felt like a child.* Yep, his bleeding heart syndrome was kicking in again as he realized that walking away from the little guy floating in the air would haunt him for the rest of his life.

And so Viper got the same quick as lightning lick all the way from his stomach to the top of his hoodie pushing the display from its position.

Just like Reborn Viper had not been prepared. The Mist Arcobaleno spluttered in alarm and wavered in the air, completely taken by surprise. The deer had moved faster then lightning; one second it was only touching the wooden display tray before he was completely slobbered on in a thick line from chest to forehead. All at once he felt drained and he could barely keep his illusion in place. Poor Fantasma had been knocked in the process causing his beloved familiar to inch away from the center position over his head. Both went floating unsteadily to the ground at the midnight fallow deer's feet, Viper giving a startled cry as he went. He felt paralyzed to some degree and was unable to move away. The little infant could feel some of the saliva under his hoodie and he shuddered at it clumping his hair together and sticking to his forehead. When he landed on the ground and glanced up at the deer and the tray, which had held its sideways position in the air regardless of the levitator being shocked, he saw the black, throbbing and pulsating manifestation of his curse. It stretched from his own shadow and then up from the ground as if it was peeled tape.

Gathering magic in his legs Harry jumped up high and to the right and in his mouth was the curse. It writhed frantically and held a quality similar to the mist surrounding everything making it look like the wizard's animagus form was slobbering putrid shadows and bile. It snapped off the infant's shadow and made the earth actually come up after it. The damn thing was hard to grasp in his flat teeth and Harry felt it slip away from his mouth in its bid for freedom. Horrified, Harry watched as the black essence darted quickly back down to earth and towards the infant's fallen form like a viper. Its lead part looked like the head of a puff adder with jaws wide open and ready to sink back into the crippled child. Harry landed and charged forward stopping the curse on its journey back to its victim, cloven hooves delivering swift justice to the middle.

As quick as he could Harry bit the head and began to swallow the thing, whole. He couldn't just bit it to pieces, as it seemed not to hold a very cohesive form to rip apart, so he had to take it in all at once. As he did this Harry dragged the still struggling curse back into the grove, finally feeling like he would have to use hands in order to eat the whole thing. It was disgusting and wriggled in his throat as it slid further down. Shaking his head like a dog to daze the thing or at least help himself swallow it didn't do a thing and only seemed to aggravate the curse. Harry was so focused he didn't notice a familiar figure behind the mist, standing with a sniper riffle in his grove where he was retreating. The black fallow deer's only warning was the sudden swift movement of Fantasma lifting his master back off the ground and out of the line of fire.

"Reborn now!"

0w0(+} +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + +

There… there it was. Just a drop of ink but it was on the parchment. Foolish Potter brat, did he really think that they wouldn't be looking for him? He shouldn't have used that spell.

*From the books and movie it looked like the horcrux living in Harry's soul might have been the last piece of Voldemort's humanity thus its infant look. So Harry is feeling the ability to be innocent from the creature even though it naturally radiated evil intent.

OK AGES! I probably should have done this in first chapter one. They not exact ages as I haven't looked at their birthdays.

HP:

Harry – 22

Hermione – 22

Ron – 22

Luna – 22

Neville – 22

Ginny – 21

KHR:

Reborn – 27

Tsuna – 14

Gokudera – 15

Hibari – 16

Yamamoto – 14

Ryouhe – 15

Mukuro – 15

Chrome – 13

Lambo – 5

Gokudera stared at Tsuna sitting on his bed, school uniform wrinkled at the bottom and part of the white undershirt falling out. He tried not to twiddle his thumbs but he was going to blow any second and he couldn't just start screaming at a blank wall. Juudaime would think he had gone crazy or something and then he would get replaced by someone else as the SIC and then he wouldn't be able to properly protect the 10th! No he couldn't let that happen! NEVER!

As for the 10th, he was currently watching Gokudera clench his hands in different ways as he itched to get a bomb or take out his frustration by yelling. That would bring back the reason why the silver haired teen wanted to punch something.

Tsuna purposefully kept his voice light and unassuming. "Gokudera-kun..."

Gokudera gave a start at his name being called and secretly enjoyed the fact that "-kun" have been tacked onto his name again.

"YES JUDAIME!?" He perked up in attention.

Tsuna gave a smile at his friend's distinct personality and despite the frustrating moments with the silverette he was glad that the shell around Gokudera's heart had come off.

"It's ok, really." Tsuna put his hands out and lowered them twice in a Japanese gesture. "We did leave without telling anyone where we were going so getting attacked by Hibari should have been obvious. Hehehe."

Chapter 5 (Turning point)

She wasn't very tall at all and looked thin from a distance. Her skin was pale, like a china doll. Pale blond hair and bright blue eyes accompanied a pink tipped, button nose to create a serene looking face. This serene face the girl had held vacant looking eyes as if nobody was home upstairs to light a candle. Despite that she moved with a grace and air that suggested she knew something deeper about the world and was simply lost inside that knowledge. She exuded a flame not unlike the deer and deity but she did not have it crawling along the surface of her skin.

Reborn watched as the vacant girl made her way to their rag tag group on the heels of Chrome who was happily chatting away to her, unusual behavior for the pseudo Guardian. Their voices were lowered as they passed the suspicious people in the corner but got a tad louder as they walked farther away.

Most of the Vongola family noted that Chrome looked quietly pleased as she took a seat next to Gokudera in the booth and slid up next to the silver haired teen to let her new friend sit as well.

"Reborn-san. Let.. let me introduce Lovegood Luna. She says she knows about the na.. Nara Park deity." Chrome put her right hand out and shifted her palm towards the dreaming girl beside her. "She's very knowable and says she's been studying the subject in question for years!"

That got everyone's attention by the reins. On his part, Reborn couldn't believe his luck. Right when it looked like all leads would dry up and they could not catch the deer or the deity, a supposed expert shows up. The hitman didn't want to admit it but he was desperate enough to believe this girl and drop some automatic suspicions about her. At least whatever she told them would give them something to go on even if it WAS false.

The girl directly in front of him nodded her head, still in the clouds.

"Oh yes, I've seen it multiple times and have talked to him too. He's got a nice personality." She breathed out, all sighs and airy whispers just laud enough for the group to hear clearly.

The waitress showed up right then and asked the girl, Lovegood, if she wanted anything. The girl simply asked if they had any Earl Gray tea with Bergamot, and got a positive reply. With that order in, the waitress left them alone again.

Folding his hands Reborn looked the girl in the eyes and she watched him right back. To the others it seemed like a silent conversation was going on but in reality it was just Reborn committing her face to memory.

"Lovegood-san," he started in what he hoped was an inviting voice "we would like to hear everything you know about what resides in that Grove of Trees."

The Vongola family scooted closer to her in rapt attention. For a whole minute the girl simply stared out vacantly at Reborn. She seemed to be almost assessing him. Eventually she smiled and there was a collected sigh of relief. Some were sure Reborn might just torture the girl if she didn't give anything.

"Some things I can't say because it's not my place to tell them. Is that all right?" the girl, Luna, didn't look remorseful at all with that statement.

"Yes that's fine." Reborn replied casually but in his head he was a bit more impatient. 'Fine, fine, fine, now would you just hurry up and say something.'

Looking over Reborn's shoulder and out the window the girl began to speak.

"I can't give you his name. You would hold power over him if I did and he has issues with people controlling his life. Mr. Deity didn't always reside there in that grove of trees in Nara Park, you know."

Reborn couldn't help but bit out a 'no, no we didn't. Not at all.' in his head.

"At my school there is an ancient forest surrounding a section of our sports field. Many magical things live in there, most dangerous and willing to harm you. Mr. Deity used to run near the forest's edge and we got to see it quite often. He spoke to some of us and was friends with two humans enrolled at my school. Things were peaceful and most everyone liked to get close to him and hear his legend. It was nice."

The fair-haired girl sighed, this one filled with sadness and longing. It was as if a depressed air had taken hold of her. Reborn noted her eyes turned an ashy grey.

"All of those happy times stopped though, when the war broke out at our school."

"War!?" Tsuna squeaked and earned a glare from Reborn.

The man didn't want any interruptions less they annoy the girl or scare her off but the hitman needn't of worried.

"Yes. You see, our school was filled with prestigious students from around the world, each one powerful in their own right. A group calling themselves the Death Eaters were the ones who struck at us. Each member of the Death Eaters was a grownup, much more powerful then us young students. They had come for the deity that lived among humans, wanting to kill it so it could not interfere with their plans. Previously, Mr. Deity had stopped their boss single handedly and mortally injured him, but he had survived somehow. Before the all out strike on our school the deity had tried to warn everyone that the head of the Death Eaters had returned but, he was attacked for this by our society. They refused to listen to reason and attempted to banish Mr. Deity. He didn't leave us though for he is very loyal to those close to him."

"Anyways, students and teachers had to take up arms when a surprise attack was launched. Most of us were untrained and those who were marginally ready to fight had been taught by the Deity himself. But those were few and far between because we had to be taught in secret. Some whole classes died. Nobody was prepared for the fight so in the end that wasn't surprising. I think… I think about two thirds of us survived though."

Tsuna leaned forward with rapt attention and horror. He would most likely never get used to hearing tales like this. Children their age being killed in an all out school war by grownups? A disaster like that would have definitely been on national news, but then again they had been housing a deity, something that would have been hidden away from those who did not need to be in the know.

Luna smiled at them all, mood shifted for a bit before she went back to her misty eyed self.

"The Death Eaters wished to spread their power and influence across the land Mr. Deity protected. When the last defense placed around our school was taken down they came in droves. Thousands of them came to claim Mr. Deity's life. The Death Eaters would have succeeded had their leader, the Dark Lord, not been so adamant that he himself kill that which truly protected our school. He was foolish and did not know how to properly kill a god thus when he attacked, our Deity was only incapacitated for a while. It was hard though, seeing his small body hauled around like a trophy up to our school gate in order to dampen our fighting spirit."

Ryouhei bristled at this and you could almost see his flame start to spread from his knuckles.

"WHAT!? THAT'S TOO EXTREME, USING AN ALLY'S BODY TO KILL EVERYONE'S FIGHTING SPIRIT!" The white haired boy stamped one foot done on the table, causing dishes and drinks to move around dangerously.

Luna had already picked up a cup near her before Ryouhei's foot could descend and looked at the teen with a small smile on her face.

"He wasn't really dead so in the end we didn't give up like they had hoped. Mr. Deity and the Dark Lord dueled on school grounds and the Dark Lord was defeated." She reassured the outraged boy.

Putting his elbows on the table and crossing his fingers over his mouth, Reborn ran his mind though the information she had just given them. It was a lot to take in for one thing and another, there was the distinct possibility she was flat out lying to them. The deadly hitman got the impression that the air-head girl in front of him did indeed hold correct knowledge about the two identities they sought but she was giving that information in such a confusing way. There was something she let slip though that intrigued him.

"You mentioned the deity being friends with two humans. Who are they, how can we get in touch with them?"

"That is another thing I can't tell you but I can give you this. Together they made up the Golden Trio and it is only those two who know more about the deity in Nara Park then I do."

Reborn nodded his head. 'The Golden Trio. So it's used to having people around, paying attention to it. Must like being noticed. Could it possibly have been ignored like many deity's are being ignored here in Japan?'

"Oh no, not at all." She breathed out under her breath.

The hitman blinked and raised his head a little. Had she just responded to what he was thinking?

"He doesn't like attention that much, he's had bad experiences with it, like in the war. It's why he left us in the end. People pay too much attention to Mr. Deity and they all want a piece of him. Some literally want a piece of him. If you want Mr. Deity you're going to have to be wary of other's who share your goal. Once you expose him other's will notice and take his head."

"Aren't you yourself exposing 'Mr. Deity' right now? You've told us a lot about him already." Gokudera asked leaning in front of Tsuna's line of sight to face the girl.

"No, you're not dangerous to Mr. Deity at all. I can tell." A smile list up her face, her eyes closed in happy arcs and her nose crinkled up.

Tsuna chuckled nervously. 'If only she knew…'

Ignoring the other's Reborn extended his hand out to the girl for a hand shake.

"You for the warning and cooperation."

Tsuna looked from his teacher to Luna. Was Reborn letting her leaving already? "Um…so how do we catch the deer or the deity?"

"If you catch one you get the other." Luna stated not looking away from Reborn or the hand she had taken.

"So if we catch the deer and take it away, the deity will follow?"

"What? OH I understand now." She giggles a little. "The black deer and the deity are the same. Mr. Deity can change shape, like a shape shifter, but can only be in two forms. The deer and the deity."

Reborn's eye twitched. The deity was really powerful then. He'd been fooled this whole entire time trying to run after the deer hoping to spot the deity when he was actually running after the deity itself.

"Good luck. You're going to need it."

I think we shall be fine now that we have some information to go on now miss.

"Even so you're going to need it. Every Deity stands for something right?"

They all nodded in tandem except for Reborn and Hibari.

"Nara Park's deity is the Lord of the Hunt. He hunts and is hunted in a never ending cycle."

As she turned her head back towards the glass door her eyes turned completely pitch black.

And then she was gone.

Still as calm and collected as from the start, Reborn turned around in the booth, letting one arm rest on the plush top as he looked into the booth behind them.

"Did you hear all that, Varia?"

"It seems you would be right about the Lighting attribute, Reborn-san. It draws most of the enemies' attention and takes the hits."

"Now I really want to fight it!"

Chapter 6

Kashamiryu castle looked old and worn out. Once proud walls and roofs wilted inwards and displayed cracks the pattern of lightning. Holes in the roof let in rain and wind to destroy the inside paneling that have been well taken care of in histories past.

As the Vongola family moved to the destroyed front door, they couldn't help but notice the mist rising off of the ground and moving around inside the main house. It floated in some places like clouds while others seamlessly wilted into one another and faded away.

Reborn tried to sense Mukuro, but felt Chrome instead who was harmlessly hanging by Tsuna's side with her trident clutched to her. From behind he could hear Tsuna talking to Chrome in hushed tones about the mist and confirmed that it was neither her nor Mukuro's doing. 'It rubbed me the wrong way', she said in a light tone, ' it doesn't welcome us at all but it doesn't hate us for intruding either. Like it's sad there aren't more people inside.'

Well, the mist certainly did not look or act real and they were hunting a deity so the possibility of mist having feelings actually seemed valid. Then here was the fact no other mist was hanging around the other compounds, only over Kashamiryu.

'More people?' Reborn's eyes lit up a bit but were still hidden under his fedora.

Chapter? Stagione (A new Famiglia! Coming of the Seasons!)

'Eh? What the heck was this?'

Harry turned the box around and around in his hand, stopping back at the hole in it's side. Just a few hours ago the adolescent wizard had heard some rummaging sounds coming from the northern part of his home completely in the other direction from his room.

Chapter?

- Harry the Stagione Meister.

- Luna of the Winter Solstice.

- Ron of the Summer Solstice.

- Neville of the Spring Bloom.

- Hermione of the Autumn Fall.


End file.
